NEWS RELEASES

Castine, ME, March 12, 2010 – Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) partnered with International Maritime Security Network (IMSN) to offer a pilot anti-piracy course on the MMA campus March 9-10, 2010. The course, lead by IMSN staff, taught mariners techniques to deal with pirate attacks against their vessels. Defenshield’s Executive Vice President J.P. Paraschos and Senior Engineer John Kleniatis attended and completed the course.

Defenshield works closely with IMSN to provide ballistic protective components for IMSN’s Trident Shield Anti-Piracy System. The system is a custom designed, multi-product platform for detecting, deterring and defending against maritime piracy. Defenshield’s Rail Caps, Mobile Defensive Fighting Positions and other ballistic transparent and steel armor is available as part of the shield system. The Rail Caps can be seen in action during the training on the IMSN website: http://imsn.us/tritonshieldaps.html. Local news video coverage of the event can be seen here.

The two-day course introduced techniques and technologies that will better prepare licensed mariners to keep their ships safe. Two shipping companies, Horizon Lines and Maersk, sent employees to the course. Last April, the Maersk vessel Maersk Alabama was attacked by Somali pirates and its captain, Richard Philips, taken hostage, the first such attack on a U.S.-flagged vessel since the 1800s. The ship's crew retook the vessel, and a U.S. Navy SEAL team rescued Phillips, killing three of the pirates.

Maersk Alabama was attacked again in November, but, according to news reports, an onboard security team repelled the attackers using small-arms fire and long-range acoustical devices.