How big is the area of sea that has to be patrolled as it is under risk from pirates?
Over 1 million sq miles, including areas of the red sea, down to the tanzanian coast, to nearly the coast of India
How many pirate attacks last year?
Too many
How many vessels are potential targets?
Unknown, as they will take on any vessel, from a sailing yacht to oil tankers, and as it is one of the main shipping choke points in the world, there are alot of targets
How many (coordinated) resources are available to police & protect this area & number of targets?
The NATO vessels, the Chinese, The Indian's, The Russians and a few others. They do not all co-ordinate with each other, as they all have different ROE's. About 20 main war ships (plus supply ships etc)
How long is the coast from which pirate attacks can be launched?
The coast of Somali is about 1300nm long. However the main pirate attacks come from the region known as Punt land. This is the middle bit, between the chaos of the south (mogadisu area), and Somaliland, which borders Djibouti. The south has its own problems, to big to worry about going ship hunting, and Somaliland is a very stable country, and are working hard to stamp out any problems in their area. So it drops down to about 500 nm to watch. But this can be narrowed down alot, as most bases are known.
Dont know any way to slove the problem, but I like alfred the greats plan, seems to make the most sense.