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http://news.cntv.cn/program/xwlb/20101214/112047.shtml
http://news.cntv.cn/china/20101214/109874.shtml

The Somali speed boat tried to rush and board freighter. Once they've held the crew hostage, they can just threaten to blow up the ship and take it back to port in Somalia. These guys got balls, the Chinese navy had a 054A frigate nearby and they tried to out-maneuver it. By taking their speed boat close to the freighter, the Chinese frigate cannot fire on the speed boat without hitting the freighter.

Unfortunately for the pirates, they couldn't out-maneuver a Z-9 helicopter that strafed them with MG rounds. Not feeling suicidal, they ditched the small arms overboard.

I'm puzzled why ships don't just have a team of snipers on board. Those little speedboats would be easy pickings. Even if you don't want to kill anyone you could just hit the onboard motor with a .50 cal. Problem solve.d

Repatriate wrote:I'm puzzled why ships don't just have a team of snipers on board. Those little speedboats would be easy pickings. Even if you don't want to kill anyone you could just hit the onboard motor with a .50 cal. Problem solve.d

If you look at this video @ 50 seconds:
http://news.cntv.cn/china/20101214/109874.shtml

You can spot the sniper team with what looks like a .50 cal rifle in position. The problem is that the pirates are on a small speed boat at distance, so making the shot is difficult, plus if they're next to a merchant or tanker ship, you risk hitting the ship.

In an earlier incident in April 2009, USN snipers were able to take out 3 pirates because the USN ship was towing the life boat (with the pirates and hostage on board) with a 82 ft line in calm waters:

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-12/worl ... s=PM:WORLD

If the pirates and hostage were in a speed boat in rough sea at great distance, I doubt the USN commander would've authorized the shot.

There's a discussion on the video and if some parts were "chopped" from an earlier training exercise:



That looks like a Chinese M99 (Hunan Province Ordance, not Barrett) sniper rifle:



But notice the ship photo shows the gun is unloaded. I don't see the ammo magazine. So it's either from training exercise, or the shooter is not permitted to load ammo until authorization is given.