Ship guards ‘can’t fight military drones’

“It was surreal. They threw down ropes and we gave them bags of money. They had money counters on board like you would have in a bank. We were definitely nervous going up to the side of a vessel which you know has pirates on board,” Farrell said in an interview with The Times.

The ship was managed by Zodiac Maritime Agency — a London-based company belonging to the Israeli tycoon Eyal Ofer that is now caught in a diplomatic firestorm between Iran and Britain, the United States and Israel.

Two crew members, including a security guard — Adrian Underwood, a British army veteran — were killed last week when one of the oil tankers it manages, MT Mercer Street, was hit in a drone strike off Oman. Days later Iranian forces were accused of hijacking another tanker in the region, but their alleged plan to take it back to Iran was thwarted by the crew. Iran has denied any involvement, accusing the West of “false flag” operations.

The latest incidents have “opened up Pandora’s box”, said one expert, who explained that security guards on the vessels were there originally to defend against criminal acts such as Somali piracy.

Now they are having to contend with unmanned explosive-laden speed boats, limpet mines attached to the hulls of ships, balaclava-clad commandos storming vessels and so-called “suicide drones” — some of which have been deployed by state actors.

Farrell, 40, said that in the wake of the suspected Iranian attacks the maritime security company where he works as the group commercial director, Neptune P2P Group, has held urgent talks on whether it needs to invest in anti-drone technology such as electronic counter measures. “What we are looking at at the moment is anti-drone defence, whether that’s some sort of signal jamming capability or a device that can put a ringfence — a bubble — around the vessel so something can’t fly in. It wouldn’t be every vessel that would have these, just those most at risk”, he said.

The firm, which employs about 400 guards including 40 who are former British military personnel, is one of a number of maritime security companies that are re-assessing the way they operate given the rising threat to commercial ships from hostile states flouting the rules of the seas.

The drone attack on July 29 is believed to be the first time a long-running tit-for-tat exchange between Iran and Israel has resulted in any casualties. The arch-foes have blamed each other for a series of attacks in recent months, some of which have been carried out in murky circumstances which make it hard to attribute blame.

The British government is keen to call out such acts where there is deemed to be enough intelligence. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said the UK government believed Iran was behind the “unlawful and callous” drone attack and General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the armed forces, said Iran must be deterred from repeating its “big mistake”.

Giving the first detail on what happened during the drone attack, UK government sources claimed that as the attack unfolded, the majority of the crew on board the Mercer Street moved into a safe room known as a “citadel”. The captain of the tanker, a Romanian who has not been identified, remained outside in a possible attempt to steer the vessel.

Underwood, a security guard leading a team of four Britons, stayed with him for protection. When the drone struck the top of the bridge, both men were killed. British special forces were deployed in the aftermath to assess what type of drone it was — for example whether it was armed with a missile which was fired from far away or whether the drone itself was an explosive device.

An experienced maritime explosives expert who has investigated a significant number of tanker attacks said that given the hole in the ship, he believed the drone must have been carrying about 10kg of explosives.

The oil tanker MT Mercer Street was hit in a drone strike off Oman last week

ALI HAIDER/EPA

Iranian forces were blamed again on Tuesday for hijacking an asphalt tanker and attempting to steer it towards Iran. The plan was thwarted when the crew disabled the ship’s engine, leaving it drifting. The “squad” of gunmen were forced to flee when US and Omani warships came to their rescue.

The UK maritime security industry is worth an estimated £7 billion to £10 billion, according to insiders, and the big players turn over about £110 million a year.

Industry experts estimate that about 25 per cent of the shipping traffic coming through the Gulf of Aden — identified by war insurers as “high risk” because of the threat of piracy — carries security guards on board.

British security guards, typically armed with semi-automatic rifles and operating in groups of three or four, are deemed to be the “ferraris” of the industry because they are all ex-military and highly trained. As a result they cost more, typically more than $5,000 a month — and there are fewer of them. They are often hired by billionaires with super-yachts. It is known in the industry that vessels managed by Zodiac will always have a four-man British team on board, raising questions as to what Iran knew about its target. One line of thought is that the Iranians acted upon bad intelligence and did not mean to kill anyone.

The security guards move onto commercial vessels from “floating armouries”, which are ships used both as hotels and as storage for weapons and other equipment such as night vision binoculars, helmet cameras, body armour and trauma medical packs.

At one stage, the Royal Marines were said to be “haemorrhaging” men to the industry because of the higher pay.

“There are men out there trying to defend against incredibly difficult circumstances. We didn’t put our men on ships to defend against rockets, suicide drones and unmanned fast boats with the potential to bear sophisticated IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and operating with the authority of a state,” said Conrad Thorpe, a former lieutenant-colonel who served in the Royal Marines and is now the CEO of Salama Fikira, a specialist security firm.

He said the latest alleged Iranian drone attack had opened up Pandora’s box because of its sophistication, adding: “It isn’t going to be shut anytime soon.”

Other industry experts have said security guards remain useful for possible state attacks because they can keep a lookout and make sure the crew are aware of any threat, as well as identify any changes to pattern of life.

Simon Jones, a former Royal Marine and CEO of Triton International, a security risk management company, said it was impossible for private security companies to defend against the kind of drone deployed against the Mercer Street.

“These are large-scale sophisticated national assets that fight cross-border wars. It is not something a private security company can deal with,” he said.

“We are not going to start putting anti-aircraft guns on commercial ships and small arms will not suffice.” He said trying to defend against a targeted threat from a state-actor would be “almost suicidal”.

James Hilton, a former Royal Marines officer who now operates Protection Vessels International, a maritime security firm which employs about 100 British guards, added: “The threat has evolved and so we have to evolve, updating our procedures as appropriate. It’s a fast moving situation and we just have to be as prepared for that as can be.”