Sagem-led consortium unveils anti-piracy system

The Autoprotection consortium has unveiled its new fully-integrated anti-piracy system called BlueDome at the Euromaritime exhibition, held on 3-5 February in Paris, France. Sagem leads and coordinates this French consortium.

BlueDome is a non-lethal and graduated anti-piracy system for commercial ships, offering successive protective barriers during all the attack phases.

These barriers include long-range detection of small vessels, their behaviour analysis, a day/night optronic turret for identification and remote deterrents such as acoustic devices and light projectors. They also include smoke grenades and water cannons as anti-boarding measures and ballistic protection of the vulnerable locations and areas of crew members.

The system automatically analyses the situation and also manages all barrier systems and devices. Crew members can monitor the situation and approve recommended actions through a tablet interface.

The system's effectors and sensors can also be remotely operated from any secure area on the ship. BlueDome is being demonstrated at present in an at-sea trial on board the SeaOwl-owned training vessel, VN – Partisan.

The consortium also includes Thales, SeaOwl, Sofresud, Lacroix, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Maritime, Eca Group, Bureau Veritas and Amefo.