Drones would be the most cost-effective solution I guess. It would be more expensive to have ships patrolling there all the time than a drone controlled from wherever, launched from a base in Africa.
And a AGM-114 Hellfire missile is not that expensive (~ $70k?). Well worth a boat with pirates and the "show of force" effect I feel. Also, pirates could do nothing against high flying "invisible" drones.
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