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Guards Shoot and Detonate Houthi Bomb Boat Just Yards Away From Impact

Bomb boat detonationd

Published Jul 23, 2024 1:56 PM by The Maritime Executive

A team of private maritime security contractors aboard a merchant ship recently shot and destroyed a Houthi suicide drone boat as it approached their vessel, and the video of the encounter has gone viral on social media. 

The footage shows three PMSCs on the starboard bridge wing of the unidentified vessel, which is under way at sea speed. The drone boat approaches from the vessel's starboard quarter, gradually gaining ground and closing the distance. The PMSCs engaged it with semiautomatic rifle fire, and they struck and detonated it after about 18 rounds. 

The vessel was not identified, but it was a containership based on background imagery in the video. The crew and security team communicated in Ukrainian, reflecting a common nation of origin for bridge officers in the global merchant fleet. Their arms appear to be FN FAL or L1A1 semiautomatic rifles, a widely-used battle rifle with a harder-hitting cartridge. 

The interaction contrasts with the deadly bomb-boat attack on the bulker Tutor, which was much discussed in maritime security circles. In that incident, the ship's PMSC team was on the port bridge wing and watched a (disguised) bomb boat approach. They did not shoot, and they fled into the wheelhouse with the crew when they realized the risk of the situation. The boat detonated in way of the engine room, killing one crewmember and flooding the ship (video below). The vessel eventually sank after further Houthi intervention, including a second bomb-boat strike, a boarding and a possible placed charge detonation. 

Some in the security industry have raised questions about the wisdom of deploying traditional anti-piracy guards on an anti-drone mission without heavily upgrading their equipment, training and tactics - especially if the Houthis begin using larger numbers of drones simultaneously to overcome basic small-arms fire. 

"Are they even issued the right tools to thwart an attack by one drone or one WBIED? What about a swarm of twenty suicide-drones? How about a simultaneous swarm of a dozen drones and a dozen WBIEDs?" asked security expert Simon O. Williams in a recent editorial for TME.