These poor, innocent, maritime vessels are just "sitting ducks." You wouldn't need state-of -the -art weapons to discourage the pirates. Maybe just a couple of 50-caliber machineguns or some old, cheap, 20mm anti-aircraft Oerlikon repeating cannons.

Is there a law against protecting yourself from attack? Worried about a national incident? Too late. It's already a world-wide incident. Let's get these cargo ships armed, and that will be the end of piracy on the high seas.