Piracy
Far from romanticized fictions of hook hands and Black Pearls, real-world piracy in the form of illegal attacks on ships at sea poses an international challenge. The global ramifications of piracy increasingly require a coordinated global response: Interpol acknowledges that a “…single piracy case will often affect several different nations.
Vessels may be flagged, owned, and operated by different countries and manned by multinational crews. The pirates, the navy which captures them, and the nation willing to investigate and prosecute the case are also likely to be diverse. This makes it crucial to share information between military, law enforcement, and judicial bodies in multiple countries.” In recent years, Southeast Asia has increasingly been the site of the majority of pirate attacks. In response, in April 2016, Spire signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Marine Affairs & Fisheries of the GOvernment of Indonesia (MMAF) to evaluate how data provided by Spire’s constellation of nanosatellites can help MMAF better monitor, supervise, and manage vessels entering and operating in Indonesia’s 5.8 million square kilometer Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Spire’s real-time trade security enables dark target detection to recognize suspicious maritime activity and close vulnerable gaps in conventional satellite and radar tracking systems.