Friday Films: "Lighter Than Air" Collection

Silent films

Friday Fun Film: Airship Action featuring USS Macon (ZRS-5)

A bit from the film "Here Comes the Navy (1934) with James Cagney, Pat O'Brien. Can't find the whole movie, but I like this clip:

Somali Pirates: Warning of a logical extension into new hunting grounds

A suggestion of a potential area of expansion for the pirates of Somalia, should they decide to venture further into the open ocean using their "mother ships" is found at "Piracy: Cape to Arabian Gulf and Malacca Shipping Lanes Are Latest Targets", which builds off an early February 2012 hijacking:

Red arrow points to referenced 8 Feb attack

NATO has issued an alert saying that a merchant vessel was attacked yesterday (8 February 2012) and is suspected to have been hijacked. At 14h38 UTC the vessel was in position 13 32 N 058 36 E.

***

The hijacking comes on the same day that a maritime security company whose services include the provision of armed guards on ships warns of “a critical shift in pirate focus.”

GoAGT (Gulf of Aden Group Transits) said on Thursday that over the past week it has received first-hand information from sources indicating that several Pirate Action Groups (PAGs) have begun to focus operations in a new regional area. These sightings suggest that pirates are targeting the Cape to Arabian Gulf shipping lane.

“There is a potential for PAGs to move east and endanger shipping along the Cape to Malacca route,” added GoAGT. “Shipping along these routes are vulnerable as many vessels are not hardened against piracy, and do not carry armed guards. This is due to these routes being outside of the traditional High Risk Area (HRA).”

"Mothership" dhow?

GoAGT says the activity east of the Seychelles is “likely motivated by the search for unprepared shipping. The operational range for PAGs has greatly increased due to the use of mothership vessels, which allow for extended operations at sea. It is also possible that PAGs can extend operations south of the Maldives.” “On 6 February,” says GoAGT, “a merchant vessel was approached by two skiffs in the central Indian Ocean Region at position 05°03'N 066°07'E. On 8 February, a second merchant vessel was attacked at position 04°18'S 059°59'E by a skiff with five pirates on board (POB). The distance between these attacks suggests that several PAGs are now operating in this area. “With the extensive concentration of anti-piracy measures in the Northern Indian Ocean, it is increasingly likely PAGs will attempt to target new areas to take advantage of unprotected shipping lanes,” warns GoAGT.

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Nato said piracy activities have been recently reported in the Indian Ocean in vicinity of the Seychelles Islands and warned that approaches occurred on 28 January north of the Seychelles Islands in position 0455N 05814E and on 6 February east of the Seychelles Islands in the position of 0503S 06607E. “Masters are advised to proceed through these areas with extreme caution, and be advised that the PAG (Pirate Attack Group) responsible for the recent approaches (NSC4) in the Indian Ocean is still believe to be in the area.”

Okay, GoAGT might be attempting to drum up a little business, but its point is well made. Somali pirates have shifted their attacks to areas in which coverage by naval forces has been weak or non-existent and to locales where the perceived need for shipboard armed security teams has also been low. It is logical that the pirates might shift to a sea lane which, as yet, has not been bothered by pirate attacks.

What virginal sea lanes that are within the potential reach of the Somali pirates are in danger?

 What follows is a mashup chart I created by combining a chart from a study of "The complex network of global cargo ship movements" by Pablo Kaluza, et al. with a recent IMB Live Piracy Map showing attacks to 4 March 2012 in the Indian Ocean area:

EagleSpeak Mashup Map: The more yellow the line, the more heavily traveled the sea lane 

If it looks a little fuzzy, It's because of the overlay of the maps to allow me to make my point - there a number of heavily traveled sea lanes radiating (roughly) from South Africa to India, to the Strait of Malacca and to other points in eastern Indian Ocean. Given enough of a mothership, these areas are potentially vulnerable to pirate attacks, though, to date, none has occurred along them.

Here's another liberty I have taken from the Kaluza, et al piece, in which the green oval I have added highlights the area of concern:

Having a hypotheses of a potential area of attack - and one that covers a vast area of ocean at that- what is a viable way of providing some protection for these as yet "un-pirated" sea lanes?

One thought is to use modern airships as counter-pirate tools, as set out in an earlier pos,  Fighting Pirates with Airships, an idea apparently being examined by the Royal Navy. Another possibility is to keep the Somali pirates out of these sea lanes by a vigorous containment policy, though ultimately there has to be a "risk/reward" look at the potential which ways the costs of prevention of hijackings against the cost of paying ransoms.

U.S. Navy First Airship in 50 Years Revealed

Yes, it's a research tool and not like the Macon and all those older planes, except that it is an airship, as reported at First Navy airship in 50 years unveiled at NJ base :

Good luck with those budget cuts. There is a place for such machines in the services, though.

I'd go with nuclear power, though. And that internal fighter thing.

I don't think the Sparrowhawk is the answer, though.

Navy Airship to Go to Oil Spill

Reported as A Navy Blimp is Expected to Help the Clean up Oil Spill Process :

The clean up oil spills process continues in the 77th day with a new technology. An enormous navy blimp MZ-3A Airship slowly made its way from Yuma, Arizona and is expected to arrive today in the Gulf Coast at Jack Edwards National Airport, to help clean up the disastrous oil spill, according to a press release from Deepwater Horizon Response External Affairs. The Coast Guard requested the support of the 178-foot-long U.S. Navy airship to detect oil, assist in coordinating skimming efforts and to monitor any threat to marine mammals and other wildlife that may be in distress.

The advantage that the blimp has over the helicopters is that, it can stay aloft continuously for 12 hours while monitoring a large swath of territory at low speed, and would also far more economical than the helicopters, according to the US Navy. The problem is that the blimp can’t go up in rough weather and that could mean significant no-fly periods for the MZ-3A Airship.

OK, cool.

Photo: Navy Hand Out File Photo (Undated) of the MZ-3A manned airship, Advanced Airship Flying Laboratory, derived from the commercial A-170 series blimp. The Navy airship is a high endurance low fuel alternative to fixed wing or rotary aircraft. providing extreme utility in airborne patrol missions where endurance and communications capabilities are required. (U.S. Navy/Released)