eclipse yacht anti missile

Roman Abramovich's superyacht has missile defence system and anti-paparazzi lasers

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's yacht, Eclipse, has modern tech to protect guests, from bullet-proof windows toa missile-detection system and even a mini escape submarine

• 12:26, 11 Mar 2022

Roman Abramovich has two prized assets that look out of reach - his enormous superyachts.

The Chelsea owner has been hit by sanctions from the UK government and faces the prospect of having £3.2billion of assets in this country frozen after being identified as having links to Vladimir Putin and the Russian state.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said yesterday that oligarchs like Abramovich have "no place in our society or economy", adding: "The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame."

Abramovich, who according to The Sunday Times Rich List is worth a staggering £10.2billion, has a property empire across the world, including a west London mansion, Colorado ski-ranch and chateau on the French Riviera.

The Chelsea owner has a collection of helicopters and commercial-sized planes valued at around £400m, which includes his customised jet nicknamed "Bandit".

Abramovich also boasts a huge collection of supercars worth more than £16m and even splashed out £285,000 just on a number plate.

But the Russian billionaire is really known for being the world's greatest spender on luxury yachts, maintaining a fleet which was dubbed 'Abramovich's Navy'.

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Abramovich, who used to have a vast collection of super yachts, now only has two but they completely dwarf his old ones in size.

The crown jewel is Abramovich's 533ft super yacht Eclipse, which at the time of launch was the largest privately owned superyacht in the world.

Eclipse was originally contracted at a price of around £500million but is now known as 'the $1.5billion yacht'.

Winning the record Euromillions jackpot of £189million five times over would still not give you enough cash to purchase Abramovich's vessel.

Weighing in at 13,564 tons, Eclipse was the world'largest private yacht for around three years until the Azzam was built in 2013.

Designed by French architect Hermidas Atabeyki, it was built by Blohm and Voss in 2010, with the interior kitted out by Terence Disdale.

There is more accommodation for crew than guests, with 35 of the 53 cabins for the workers, who also get their own private cinema.

The superyacht has enough space on board for two helipads, an aquarium, multiple hot tubs, disco hall and two separate swimming pools.

One of the pools is the biggest ever placed on a private yacht and can be drained out to become a dance floor.

But most interesting of all is the modern technology Eclipse is kitted out with to give its guests privacy and protection from all sorts of threats.

Abramovich's yacht has anti-paparazzi lasers, which can detect the electronic light sensors that cameras use before they even flash.

They target the cameras with beams of infrared light which overexposes the photos, rendering them useless to anyone trying to get a snap, although it doesn't work on an old-fashioned mechanical camera.

There is also bullet-proof glass and armour-plating around Abramovich's personal quarters and a mini submarine that fits three people and could be used as an escape pod.

The newest addition to his fleet is the £430million Solaris, a 430ft vessel which took to the seas for the first time last year.

It is the most costly custom-made superyacht ever built with 48 cabins across eight decks, a crew of 60 and space for 36 guests.

To put into perspective how large Solaris is, the superyacht is bigger and taller than Buckingham Palace.

Abramovich has cut down to just two superyachts, but previously owned an entire fleet which he would loan out to his pals.

The two biggest were Pelorus and Luna, which were both 377ft and cost £274million and £276million respectively.

Pelorus was given to his second wife, Irina Vyacheslavovna Abramovich, as part of their divorce settlement in 2009 while Luna was sold to a close friend, Azerbaijani-born billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, in April 2014.

Luna had been his replacement for the £110million and 371ft Le Grand Bleu, as both were expedition yachts with stronger hulls capable of providing comfort while navigating through high seas and inhospitable climates such as the North and South Poles.

Other vessels owned by the billionaire include the £110million Ecstasea (282ft) and £16million Sussurro (162ft).

Some of the yachts have been loaned out to some of Chelsea's players, including John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.

After Chelsea won the Premier League in 2005, Terry and Lampard were given use of the Pelorus as a 'bonus', then two years later Terry and his wife Toni set sail on the yacht for their honeymoon.

On Thursday it was announced that a further seven oligarchs would be sanctioned by the UK government over their links to Putin amid his war on Ukraine .

Giving a warning, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin's vicious assault on Ukraine.

"We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies."

One of the oligarchs, Igor Sechin, has already seen his 289-ft yacht 'Amore Vero' seized by French custom officers near Marseille after being sanctioned by the European Union .

But it seems Abramovich is making sure that no one will be able to get their hands on his superyachts.

Eclipse was moored in Barcelona last week but is now in open sea off the coast of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.

While Solaris was last spotted off the Sicily coast and is now believed to be heading to Israel, which is where Abramovich holds citizenship.

A spokesperson for the Russian billionaire said: "We never comment on the movements of the yacht or any other vehicles or vessels."

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A Brief History of Superyachts

And how they explain the world..

Tim Murphy January+February 2024 Issue

James Clapham

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When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the  January + February 2024  issue of our magazine, we investigate the rise of American Oligarchy—and what it means for the rest of us. You can read all the pieces  here .

The luxury yacht may be the world’s most exclusive form of transportation. But there are only a hundred-some that meet the definition of a gigayacht—a pleasure craft 295 feet or longer. Their opaque ownership records offer a glimpse of modern wealth and power: Over two dozen are linked to Gulf royals, businessmen, or states, and 20 to citizens (past or current) of the former Soviet Union. At least 23 have reportedly belonged to Americans, including founders of Microsoft, Netscape, Amazon, WhatsApp, and Snapchat. The widow of a German retailer who thrived under Hitler owned one; a UK tax exile and a Formula 1 dad still do. Yugoslav strongman Tito’s old yacht makes the list; Dominican dictator Trujillo’s does too. Take a cruise through the history of the vessels and their—somewhat—more modest sister ships.

1895: Nineteen years before World War I, the future King Edward VII of England punches his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm II, in the face, after the German’s 121-foot yacht, Meteor II , defeats the royal Britannia in a race off the Isle of Wight.

1954: Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis ushers in an era of postwar one-upmanship with his 325-foot Christina O . It features a pool that converts into a dance floor, furniture made from whale foreskin, and pornographic carvings.

1963: During his final birthday party aboard the presidential yacht Sequoia , JFK chases future Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee’s wife, Antoinette, into the bathroom and gropes her. “I guess I was pretty surprised, but I was kind of flattered, and appalled, too,” she says later. The ship’s visitor logs are destroyed after Kennedy’s assassination.

1984: King Fahd of Saudi Arabia builds the record-breaking 482-foot Prince Abdulaziz .

1987: Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.) drops out of the presidential race just before photos emerge of him with model Donna Rice aboard the yacht Monkey Business .

1988: Donald Trump acquires Nabila , which previously belonged to the Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and was featured in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again . He renames it Trump Princess , adds a disco, and changes the helipad’s “H” to a “T.”

1991: After one of Trump’s casinos files for bankruptcy, he sells Trump Princess to his bank—which flips it to a Saudi prince. A new yacht, the Trump Princess II , which he boasted would be “something in excess of 400 feet long, closer to 500 feet,” is never built.

British publisher Robert Maxwell’s body is found in the Atlantic Ocean, where he had been cruising on a 180-footer named for his daughter—the Lady Ghislaine . The vessel is eventually resold to Anna Murdoch, Rupert’s second wife.

1994: At a cocktail party on the oligarch Petr Aven’s yacht in the Caribbean, Boris Berezovsky meets Roman Abramovich, calling him a “nice boy who wanted to discuss commercial projects.” He and Abramovich begin working together to acquire Sibneft, a Russian state oil company.

1997: Construction ends on The Limited and Victoria’s Secret owner Les Wexner’s ­316-foot Limitless . The project was overseen by his good friend Jeffrey Epstein.

1999: Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison buys the 191-foot Izanami from a Japanese seller. He changes the name to Ronin , he said later , after “the local newspapers started pointing out that Izanami was ‘I’m a Nazi’ spelled backwards.”

2001: Months before Enron files for bankruptcy, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling asks a company executive for advice on finding a yacht broker. “This industry is known for crooks and thieves,” he warns Skilling.

2002: House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) promises to strip “corporate kingpins of their ill-gotten gains,” after scandals rock Enron and WorldCom. “We’re coming after the yacht.”

2003: DeLay charges donors $500,000 a pop for tickets to a yacht cruise.

2005: Ellison shoots down rumors he issued orders midconstruction to have his newest yacht, the 454-foot Rising Sun , extended to outdo Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s recently launched 414-foot Octopus .

Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) pleads guilty to federal bribery charges after being caught living rent-free on a yacht, called the Duke-Stir , that was moored in Washington, DC, and owned by a defense contractor.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s 531-foot Dubai surpasses Prince Abdulaziz as the world’s longest yacht.

2006: Media mogul Barry Diller reveals the world’s longest sailing yacht, the 305-foot Eos , whose prow features a 9-foot-tall sculpture of his wife, Diane von Furstenberg.

2007: Diller opens a Manhattan corporate headquarters­­ at a Frank Gehry­–designed building that itself has been likened to a sailboat . It’s across the street from where Eos ties up.

2008: George Osborne, the No. 2 official in the UK’s Conservative Party, relaxes on Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska’s yacht while vacationing with his family in Greece. He denies an accusation that he solicited funds, explaining in a statement that they discussed “Russian history” and drank tea.

2009: As his marriage falls apart, Tiger Woods retreats to a 155-foot yacht called Privacy .

2010: Abramovich’s new ship, Eclipse , surpasses Dubai as the world’s longest yacht. The 533-foot vessel features a submarine, anti-missile systems, and lasers to thwart paparazzi .

2011: During an unsuccessful suit seeking $5 billion he believed Abramovich owed him from the sale of Sibneft, an exiled Berezovsky claims that his former partner helped purchase the yacht Olympia for Vladimir Putin. When the BBC publishes a supporting account from another Russian businessman five years later, Abramovich’s lawyers dismiss the allegation as “a rehash of speculation and rumours.”

2012: As GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney faces criticism for holding investment funds in the Cayman Islands, his campaign invites donors to party on Cracker Bay . The ship, owned by the founder of The Villages retirement community, flies the Cayman Islands’ flag.

2013: UAE leader Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan launches the 593-foot Azzam , surpassing the Eclipse .

2014: The Wall Street Journal reports that Ellison has basketball hoops on “at least two of his yachts” and had someone follow in a smaller boat “to retrieve balls that go overboard.”

2016: Allen’s Tatoosh drags its anchor through a protected zone in the Cayman Islands, destroying 14,000 square feet of coral.

2017: After leaving office, Barack and Michelle Obama retreat to the South Pacific aboard David Geffen’s yacht, where they’re joined by Oprah, Tom Hanks, and Bruce Springsteen.

Abramovich’s business partner, Eugene Shvidler, blocks views of the Statue of Liberty while anchoring his 370-foot Le Grand Bleu in New York Harbor for a month.

Addressing the national Boy Scout Jamboree, Trump tells an anecdote widely assumed to allude to sex parties on a yacht belonging to the developer of the Levittown suburbs. “You’re Boy Scouts, so I’m not going to tell you what he did,” he said. “But you know life.”

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) buys a yacht and on the same day votes to cut taxes on yachts.

2018: Rupert Murdoch is airlifted to UCLA after collapsing on a yacht trip with his fourth wife, Jerry Hall. “He kept almost dying,” a source tells Vanity Fair .

Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott designates a billionaire donor’s marina as a special anti-­poverty opportunity zone.

Someone unties Seaquest , a superyacht belonging to Trump administration Secretary of Education (and billionaire) Betsy DeVos, causing it to crash into a dock on Lake Erie.

Businessman Jho Low, who financed The Wolf of Wall Street , is accused of taking part in a $4.5 billion scheme to siphon Malaysian state development funds and using some to purchase a $250 million yacht.

2019: Actress Lori Loughlin is arrested in a college admissions bribery scheme . Her daughter, USC student Olivia Jade, is vacationing in the Bahamas— on a yacht belonging to USC board of trustees chair Rick Caruso.

Following an investigation into corruption in the Nigerian oil industry, the US government auctions off businessman Kolawole Aluko’s Galactica Star , six years after Jay-Z rented out the vessel for Beyoncé’s 32nd birthday. A former Enron unit attempts to claim a portion of the proceeds.

Clarence Thomas visits an Indonesian preserve for Komodo dragons with billionaire Harlan Crow on the conservative megadonor’s Michaela Rose .

ArtNet reports that a $450 million (reputed) da Vinci that was supposed to be in an Abu Dhabi museum has been spotted hanging in Mohammed bin Salman’s personal yacht, Serene .

Kylie Jenner holds her 22nd birthday party on Low’s yacht, now under new ownership.

2020: “[I]solated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus,” Geffen writes on Instagram from Rising Sun , which he purchased in 2010. “I’m hoping everybody is staying safe.”

Steve Bannon is arrested off the coast of Connecticut by US Postal Police while aboard the fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui’s 150-foot Lady May .

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. dresses up as a character from the TV show Trailer Park Boys for a costume party aboard a NASCAR mogul’s yacht. He later posts a photo of himself to Instagram with his fly unzipped and his arms around his wife’s assistant.

2021: NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre testifies that he took refuge on Illusions , a Hollywood producer’s yacht, after the Newtown and Parkland mass shootings. “I remember getting there going, ‘Thank God I’m safe, nobody can get me here.’”

During a bitter divorce, the Daily Mail reports that Tatiana Akhmedova, wife of the Russian Azerbaijani billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, hired a team of British special forces veterans to seize his yacht, Luna , in an effort to enforce a Marshall Islands court ruling. They settle instead, and he keeps the boat.

Port Azure , dubbed the world’s first harbor designed exclusively for megayachts, opens in Gocek, Turkey. It bills itself as a place where “problems big and small go away.”

2022: Amid reports a historic bridge will be dismantled so Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ newly built Koru can leave Rotterdam’s shipyards, residents threaten to pelt the sailboat with eggs . The city changes plans.

A Ukrainian mechanic is arrested in Mallorca for attempting to sink a vessel owned by his boss, a Russian arms dealer.

Biden promises oligarchs he’s going to “take their ill-begotten gains” after the invasion of Ukraine. “We’re going to seize their yachts.”

Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder avoids a congressional subpoena on the team’s misogynistic culture while cruising the Mediterranean on his yacht, Lady S .

Missing Russian superyachts are spotted waiting out sanctions at Port Azure.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) criticizes Joe Biden for vacationing in Delaware while vacationing on a luxury yacht in Italy.

After sailing through Fiji on his yacht Aquarius , briefly retired Disney CEO Bob Iger tells friends he misses his wife and is bored with life.

New York Republican congressional candidate George Santos brokers a $19 million deal to sell a superyacht called Namaste to a Long Island car dealer.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX reveals in court filings that founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund once spent $2.5 million on a yacht, which a top executive named Soak My Deck .

2023: Bezos takes possession of Koru . The $500 million, 417-foot sailboat comes with a bust that resembles his fiancée Lauren Sánchez—and its own second, 246-foot “shadow” support yacht with crew quarters and a hangar for the helicopter she pilots.

After divorcing Jerry Hall, Rupert Murdoch vacations on the Christina O with Abramovich’s ex-mother-in-law.

As TV and movie writers and actors strike, the Wall Street Journal reports that Iger, now back at work, has been regaling visitors to his Burbank office about the new, longer yacht he’s building.

Measuring Contest

Iconic gigayachts through the years

1931: Sea Cloud , Marjorie Post: 359 ft.

1981: Atlantis II , Stavros Niarchos: 380 ft.

2003: Octopus , Paul Allen: 414 ft.

2005: Rising Sun , Larry Ellison: 454 ft.

2010: Eclipse , Roman Abramovich: 533 ft.

2013: Azzam , Sheikh Khalifa: 593 ft.

Illustrations by Anthony Calvert

The Few, The Loud

Some famous faces aboard gigayachts

Steven Spielberg reeled out his anchor off Cannes.

A part of Katy Perry got stuck exiting a dinghy on her way to Barry Diller’s yacht.

Mohammed bin Salman purchased his yacht, Serene , just hours after he saw it.

Jerry Jones made a draft pick aboard his Bravo Eugenia to deepen the Cowboys’ bench.

Mariah Carey was engaged to a gigayacht owner, before the fantasy ended.

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World’s Largest Superyacht Comes with a Bullet Proof Master Suite & Missile Defense System

By: David Russell Schilling | November 9th, 2013

By JanManu (Own work) [ CC BY-SA 4.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

Before Azzam there was Eclipse. Eclipse, commissioned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich at a cost of $250 million, was the biggest super motor yacht in the world at 533 feet (162.5m). It was the most expensive super motor yacht on the market, available for charters at a reported $2.6 million a week. But that was last year.

This year, superyacht Azzam, commissioned by an undisclosed Middle East billionaire and built at a cost of $605 million, became the largest motor yacht in the world at 57 feet longer than Eclipse. Azzam, all 590.5 feet (180 m), left Lurssen Yachts Germany, one of the world’s leading shipyards for large luxury yachts in June 2013. The super motor yacht has a 68.2 foot (20.8m) beam, a draft of 14.1 feet (4.30m) and a top speed of 30 kn. It is estimated the super yacht will require yearly upkeep of $60 million.

Yachts of this size and expense draw a team of specialists hand-picked by the project engineer, in this case, Mubarak Saad al Ahbabi, to build a one-of-a-kind custom yacht that meets the sophisticated, luxurious and demanding vision of its patron. The exterior was designed by Nauta Design and the interior by Christophe Leoni. The hull is made out of steel and the ship is powered by four engines: two 23,500 hp diesel and two 23,500 hp gas turbine engines for total power of 94,000 hp.

But the specs are not as important as the frills: two helipads, two swimming pools, a cinema, a disco and a mini submarine, bullet proof glass, armor plating lining the master bedroom and a missile defense system.

Following is a video of 10 superyachts.

David enjoys writing about high technology and its potential to make life better for all who inhabit planet earth.

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Roman Abramovich's Yacht Has Anti-Paparazzi Lasers And Missile Defence System

The super yacht was the largest in the world at the time it was built.

Claire Reid

Roman Abramovich’s incredible yacht comes complete with anti-paparazzi lasers, a missile defence system and a mini submarine. You can check it out here: 

The Russian billionaire, who has recently been sanctioned by the UK government, is the owner of a couple of superyachts – most notably Eclipse. 

The 533ft Eclipse was the largest privately-owned superyacht in the world when Abramovich got his hands on it in 2010. 

At the time it was made, the vessel was reported to have cost around £500 million, but since then it has earned itself the title of 'the $1.5billion yacht'.

And what did Abramovich get for his cash? Well, just about everything you could ever want or need, really. 

It’s home to 53 cabins, 32 of which are for crew, alongside a disco hall, aquarium, a couple of pools – one of which is the biggest ever to be installed on a private yacht – and two helipads. 

And alongside all the usual plush features you’d expect after splashing so much cash, the ship is also equipped with a range of security features. 

Among them are anti-paparazzi lasers that are somehow able to detect when a camera is pointed at the ship and then sends over a beam of infrared light so the snappers can’t get their photo. 

And it’s not just the paparazzi that guests will be safe from, according to Dennis Causier, a superyacht analyst with VesselsValue. 

He told AP the superyacht has a plethora of high-tech security features including armoured panic rooms and bullet-proof glass fitted in its windows. 

He said: “Eclipse is equipped with all sorts of special features, including missile launchers and self-defence systems on board. 

“It has a secret submarine evacuation area and things like that.”

The Chelsea owner is one of a number of Russians who have been hit with sanctions by the UK since the country invaded Ukraine. 

A government press release said: "As part of the UK’s leading efforts to isolate Putin and those around him, these oligarchs – who have a collective net worth of around £15bn – will have their assets in the UK frozen, they are banned from travelling here and no UK citizen or company may do business with them."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine.

"Today’s sanctions are the latest step in the UK’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people. We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies."

Topics:  Russia , World News

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

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From Safe Rooms to Escape Pods: Here’s How Yacht Owners Are Protecting Themselves From Pirates

Increasingly, manufacturers like bering yachts are providing a range of preventative safety features to yacht owners., michael verdon, michael verdon's most recent stories.

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In the yachting world, self-defense has gone on the offensive. Roman Abramovich’s 533-foot Eclipse is rumored to have an antimissile defense system, while the 165-foot Thunder could potentially launch missiles of its own, thanks to Australian builder Oceanfast’s military pedigree. “Its multi-fin stabilization system was designed to keep the deck level for firing projectiles—even in big seas, the boat doesn’t roll,” says former captain Max Burgazli. “Another plus is that nobody spills their drinks.”

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Other gigayachts have reportedly incorporated safe rooms, and the current demand for submersibles includes those who consider them potential escape pods. For pleasure cruisers, such high-stress considerations might seem counterintuitive, but yacht owners are increasingly adding security to onboard must-have lists, even on smaller yachts.

If missiles are too extreme, perhaps bulletproofing is the way to go. Bering Yachts is now working with the luxury-vehicle armorer Trasco Bremen GmbH to reinforce its 80- to 180-ft expedition yachts. Armoring your vessel “doesn’t mean you’re going to Somalia,” says Bering CEO Alexei Mikhailov. “Random crime can happen anywhere.”

Bering and Trasco focus on the pilothouse and engine room, both vulnerable points during an attack. “Instead of a panic room, where people wait for help, it makes more sense to protect areas where owners and crew still control the yacht,” says Trasco CEO Sergej Lizun. “They lock themselves in, summon help and head for shore.”

Armoring a yacht can cost from $400,000 to $600,000, depending on the yacht’s size and details. Protected areas include the roof, the door and upgraded glass rated to bulletproof VPAM Level 6, able to withstand repeated rounds from an AK-47. The reinforcements can add up to 10,000 pounds to the boat’s weight, so it makes more sense on an explorer yacht than a planing vessel. And the structure isn’t just a steel box; the armored frame needs to be grenade-proof while still allowing for entry points to accommodate cables, vents and special locks, while the doors and walls overlap to protect from angled shots.

Thunder superyacht .  Courtesy IYC

Beyond armored rooms, Mikhailov prescribes a combination of anti-piracy deterrents such as long-range acoustic devices that emit high-pitched noises to repel invaders, a green-light “dazzle” gun to disorient attackers and motion detectors on the decks. “Incident rehearsals” that simulate the yacht being besieged by pirates (or paparazzi) are popular for training crew, especially after something untoward has happened, says Horst Ruetten,

CEO of I.B.S. International Operative Services , a German firm specializing in superyacht security. The company has seen service requests rise 5 to 10 percent each year since 2016. Need more? IBS can also provide sonar for underwater surveillance, anti-drone systems for aerial protection, armed ex-military for questionable voyages or advisement on upcoming builds. Ruetten says client requests for these defensive systems are rare compared to, say, intruder detection systems. “We do a lot more consulting during the build and refit processes for risk analysis and protection concepts,” he says.

One last tip, from Bering’s Mikhailov: If all else fails, reverse the yacht’s stabilizers to try to literally shake attackers off the boat. “It clears the decks fast,” he says. And it’s far cheaper than an antimissile system.

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• Bering Yachts

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Roman Abramovich's Eclipse (VIDEO): Mega-Yacht Includes Missile Defense System, Laser Shield

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich boasts not only the world's largest plane (the ' Bandit '), but also the world's biggest yacht: a 557-foot mega-boat called the Eclipse, which recently set sail from Hamburg, Germany.

The luxury liner has more than a few high-tech amenities, including bullet-proof glass, a missile defense system, a submarine, and an anti-paparazzi laser shield. Estimates of cost of building the Eclipse have ranged from $400 million to $1.2 billion.

The Times describes the laser shield:

Infrared lasers detect the electronic light sensors in nearby cameras, known as charge-coupled devices. When the system detects such a device, it fires a focused beam of light at the camera, disrupting its ability to record a digital image. The beams can also be activated manually by security guards if they spot a photographer loitering.

See photos of the Eclipse, and check out the video from Bloomberg below, which details the yacht's features.

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Mega yacht with missile shield for Chelsea's Abramovich

The owner of Britain's Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, is having a new £200m mega-yacht built, complete with a missile detection system to protect him against pirates and terrorists, reports The Times.

The vessel, under construction in Germany, will have radar designed specifically to warn of incoming rockets. It is being equipped with armored protection around the wheelhouse and the billionaire's cabin, together with bullet-proof windows. If assailants do breach the security cordon and climb on board, Abramovich, 41, and his girlfriend, Daria Zhukova, 26, a former model, could escape in a yellow submarine that is launched underwater and can dive to 160ft. The yacht - called Eclipse because it is intended to overshadow any other private boat - is due for delivery next summer. It is being built in the Hamburg shipyards that produced the Bismarck, Hitler's "invincible" Second World War battleship which was sunk by the Royal Navy in the north Atlantic in 1941. Abramovich, who was ranked second in The Sunday Times Rich List this year with a fortune of £11.7 billion, is taking no such chances. Should he decide to sail to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he wants to be forearmed against attack by such armed gangs as the Somali pirates who seized a Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with 33 Russian T-72 tanks 10 days ago. Even the Mediterranean, where he usually keeps his fleet of luxury vessels, is becoming less safe. In August a masked gang boarded a £20m yacht, the Tiara, off the southern coast of Corsica and robbed the guests and crew of £100,000 before escaping in a speedboat. According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attacked 269 vessels last year, took nearly 300 hostages and killed five people. Under maritime law, non-naval ships are banned from carrying firearms. Some yacht owners are adopting such measures as high-powered water cannons, ear-splitting klaxons and lubricant foam intended to make boarders slip. Secrecy surrounds the Eclipse project but sources say that the missile defense system is being installed by AST, a company which has close links to both the Blohm + Voss shipyard, where the yacht is being built, and the German defense ministry. The company said that there was a new pirate menace on the world seas and "private yachts are not spared". It added that it had designed and produced an antiballistic missile system for mega-yachts which had been "customized to meet the threat scenarios of private owners". Friends of Abramovich said last week there were no missile defense systems or submarines aboard his collection of yachts - the 377ft Pelorus, the 282ft Ecstasea and the 160ft Sussurro. One said: "We have read reports of such devices but we have always taken them with a grain of salt." The Eclipse, as the flagship of Abramovich's fleet, will be different. At 550ft the vessel will be more than half the length of the Bismarck and 15ft longer than the Emir of Dubai's yacht, the biggest afloat today. In 2006 Abramovich gave away another of his yachts, Le Grand Bleu, to Eugene Shvidler, 44, a fellow Russian billionaire living in Britain. The Chelsea owner has ordered that no expense be spared. There will even be twin helicopter pads in case he wants to land two at once. The Eclipse will have a crew of 70, space for Abramovich's guards and cabins for 24 guests. A British firm, Terence Disdale of Richmond, southwest London, has been awarded the contract for the interior design. Neither it nor a spokesman for Abramovich would comment. However, Diane Byrne, editor of Power & Motoryacht News, said: "Protection is something owners are understandably concerned about. Piracy isn't a problem limited to Somalia. It can and unfortunately does happen around the world. Thankfully there are resources that owners and their crew can turn to for equipment and training, so they can better protect themselves." Saddam Hussein's 270ft yacht Qadisiyah Saddam had a missile defense system, while the 482ft Prince Abdulaziz, the royal Saudi yacht, is also a ship in the Royal Saudi Navy and is purported to carry French-made Exocet missiles. So far the credit crunch has had little effect on the world of mega-yachts. According to ShowBoats International, 916 new boats longer than 80ft are on order in 2008, an 18% rise from last year. (The Times)

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Roman Abramovich's secret weapon

R oman Abramovich's latest extravagance, Eclipse, probably so-called because it's almost big enough to block out the sun, is the world's largest mega-yacht. Measuring 557ft long, it boasts two swimming pools, two helipads and an onboard missile defence system. And, just in case any missiles do get through, it comes complete with an escape pod: its own submarine. Its most curious feature, however, defends it against an altogether more insidious weapon: the prying eyes of the paparazzi.

The boat's anti-paparazzi system, described in several reports as a "laser shield", is a little less science fiction than it sounds. The lasers – beams of infrared light – are used to detect the electronic light sensors that digital cameras use instead of film. The camera is then targeted with a focused beam of bright light that disrupts the potential photo, making any shots unusable. It's not so much a space-age Star Wars laser shield, then, as a big budget version of shining a torch in someone's face.

A similar technology is already available to all in the form of an anti-paparazzi purse, devised by New York University student Adam Harvey, which detects the flash of a camera and responds with a bright flash of its own, cloaking the intended target in a blob of white light. Nigel Atherton, editor of What Digital Camera, explains, "You couldn't stop them taking a picture but you could ruin the picture." Eclipse's anti-paparazzi defence grid, he suspects, "is essentially a large-scale version of that."

What makes Eclipse's system special is that it can detect any digital camera, whether it's using a flash or not, and before the first shot. But Abramovich's shield still has a serious weakness: it can't possibly detect the presence of an old-fashioned analogue or mechanical camera.

So for £724m, he's got himself a boat that digital-camera-wielding paparazzi can't photograph, say, falling over outside a nightclub at 3am. It's a shame really. That's exactly the sort of memory you'd want to capture.

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Roman Abramovich’s £1bn superyacht Eclipse with missile defence system sails through the Med amid sanctions hunt

• Adrian Zorzut
• Published : 11:03 ET, Mar 14 2022
• Updated : 11:30 ET, Mar 14 2022

ROMAN Abramovich's £1bn superyacht Eclipse, which has its own missile defence system, has sailed through the Mediterranean - amid a sanctions hunt for the billionaire's assets.

The luxury ship may be making its way to  Montenegro  to join the Chelsea boss's other super yacht after he had his assets frozen by the UK.

It comes as EU officials freeze the assets of oligarchs funding Vladimir Putin's bloody war in Ukraine.

Montenegro and the Maldives do not have extradition treaties with the US, meaning that it is a safe haven for the yachts.

The Eclipse could be joining its £430m sister yacht the My Solaris, which was spotted in Tivat, Montenegro, on Saturday.

The Eclipse was last seen in the Caribbean sailing away from St Martin, and has moved through the Strait of Gibraltar, according to tracking data.

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Staff on the ship have refused to say where it is going.

They told the Canarian Weekly : "[We] never give out any of this kind of information.

"We haven't done it before and we won’t start now. Not only regarding yachts but also other means of transport owned by him."

The vessel has no end destination and its status is set to "cruising", according to Marine Traffic .

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Abramovich's £50m private jet touched down in Tel Aviv on Sunday after taking off from Moscow.

It's not known if  Abramovich , who is an Israeli citizen, was on the luxury Gulfstream G650ER jet - registered LX-Ray - when it arrived at Ben Gurion airport on Sunday night, in what was viewed as a bid to avoid his plane being confiscated by Western officials.

Israel has been criticised for not joining the US in imposing harsh economic sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

But the Israeli government has vowed not to be a safe haven for Russian billionaires.

The Eclipse cost just shy of £300million when he ordered it in 2010 – and at the time it was the biggest private yacht in the world.

But by the time the Russian billionaire finally got the keys, the luxury extras and security measures had trebled costs to close to £1billion.

The giant ship 533ft long and has fuel tanks said to be able to hold a million litres, meaning it can travel 6,000 miles before it needs topping up.

Eclipse boasts nine decks, the top one containing two helipads and a garage, and has a beauty salon, sauna, and massage room.

Abramovich’s  baby also comes with armour-plated to repel bullets and is protected by an anti-ballistic missile defence system installed by German experts AST.

The Eclipse is also equipped with a three person submarine that can descend to a depth of 160ft, should the oligarch need to make a hasty get-away.

Solaris, which was built for the billionaire in 2021, is 458ft long - and it's taller than Buckingham Palace.

Staff on the megayacht reportedly claimed that scaffolding was ripped from the ship while it was undergoing repairs in a shipyard in Barcelona in an attempt to ensure the boat could leave quickly.

The £430million vessel was most recently tracked off the coast of Lecce, in Southern Italy, after leaving Spain.

Abramovich's superyacht joined a scramble of Russian-owned vessels hastily leaving European ports on Wednesday.

It comes as the UK impounded a private jet connected to the Russian oligarch at Farnborough Airport, according to CNBC.

The government also seized £3.2billion of Abramovich's UK assets and stopped him from selling his share of Chelsea Football Club.

Abramovich is worth £10.4billion, according to Forbes, and owns a £150million mansion in Kensington, a £33milliion West London penthouse and yachts, private jets, helicopters and supercars worth more than £1.2billion

Chelsea on Friday  had their accounts frozen , after sanctions came in to ban the club from selling tickets and merchandise.

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Telecom firm sponsors  Three pulled out of their £40million-a-year deal with the club , and the team has two weeks to find a new buyer who can fork out the £28million per month wage bill or go into administration.

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The Government said it is prepared to approve the 117-year-old club’s sale as long as Abramovich does not receive a penny.

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ECLIPSE Yacht – Epic $600M Superyacht

The ECLIPSE yacht was once the largest yacht in the world at an impressive length of 162.5 metres (533 ft) but currently ranks in second place after AZZAM.

Though she is known as the billion-dollar yacht, it is estimated that her true value lies between US $500 – $700 million.

The vessel can host 36 guests and is even rumored to feature a state-of-the-art anti-paparazzi system to protect the privacy of those on board.

ECLIPSE yacht interior

The interior (and the exterior) was designed by Terence Disdale , who has become one of the top names in the industry despite having no formal design education.

ECLIPSE was his largest project to date, and he also worked on prominent vessels such as A+ and AL SALAMAH. The interior of ECLIPSE is classically designed in a style that is to be expected from one of the largest yachts in the world.

The upholstery and furniture follow a beige and crème color palette with wooden accents.

The yacht’s 18 cabins can welcome 36 guests as well as 70 crew members, which is an unusually large number even for a vessel of this size.

A large dance floor, several fireplaces, two swimming pools, and two helipads are also included onboard.

The ECLIPSE yacht interior is so large that there is even a cinema dedicated exclusively to crew members. In 2015 the interior of ECLIPSE was refitted by Blohm and Voss in Hamburg.

Specifications

The ECLIPSE yacht is the second-largest yacht in the world with a length of 162.5 meters (533 ft), a beam of 22 meters (72.2 ft), and a draft of 5.9 meters (19.4 ft).

She was built by the German shipyard Blohm & Voss and delivered to her owner in 2010.

Four MTU engines power ECLIPSE and allow her to reach top speeds of 25 knots, although her average cruising speed lies at 22 knots.

Her total volume lies at 13564 tons making her not only one of the longest but also the heaviest yachts in the world.

Like the interior of ECLIPSE, the interior was designed by Terence Disdale. According to rumors, Abramovich fitted her with an anti-paparazzi system that detects electronic light sensors from digital cameras.

However, there is no proof of this, although many newspapers report its existence.

On deck are several swimming pools and jacuzzis, and the aft of the vessel features a sizeable beach club. The yacht has a sleek design that attests to Terence Disdale’s classical style.

ECLIPSE came to fame as being the most expensive yacht ever built at the time for an approximate price of US $500 million.

She has seen further improvements since her purchase by Abramovich in 2010 and it is often widely reported that she is worth US $1.2 – $1.5 billion.

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Roman Abramovich’s super-yacht is Paparazzi-proof

Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich has installed a laser based anti-paparazzi shield on his new record breaking mega yacht – the Eclipse. Measuring 557ft long, it boasts two swimming pools, two helipads and an onboard missile defence system. The boat’s anti-paparazzi system, described in several reports as a “laser shield”, is a little less science fiction […]

Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich has installed a laser based anti-paparazzi shield on his new record breaking mega yacht – the Eclipse .

Measuring 557ft long, it boasts two swimming pools, two helipads and an onboard missile defence system.

The boat’s anti-paparazzi system, described in several reports as a “laser shield”, is a little less science fiction than it sounds. The lasers – beams of infrared light – are used to detect the electronic light sensors that digital cameras use instead of film.

The camera is then targeted with a focused beam of bright light that disrupts the potential photo, making any shots unusable.

What makes Eclipse’s system special is that it can detect any digital camera , whether it’s using a flash or not, and before the first shot.

The boat has reportedly more than doubled in cost to $1.2 billion since it was commissioned three years ago.

Via Guardian – Timesonline – Photo: Getty Image / Swim

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An Up-Close Look At Roman Abramovich's $1 Billion Superyacht

There's rich, and then there's the superyacht rich.

And yachts don't get any more super than Roman Abramovich 's 553-foot long $1 billion plus flagship the Eclipse. 

The Eclipse is currently docked at Manhattan's Pier 90 .

The following photos show a bit of what more than $1 billion plus buys in a personal motor yacht these days.

Just south of this public parking lot on the roof of the Pier 90 terminal sits Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's flagship yacht, the "Eclipse."

The Coast Guard referred us to this website where we pinpointed the ship's position and confirmed it hadn't sailed.

536-feet long and styled after military vessels, we simply had to take a look.

The 2010 Eclipse cost up to $1.5 billion and was the world's largest yacht until recently.

The vessel has amenities to rival any ship on the sea — like its own mini submersible, perhaps similar to this— able to dive down 150-feet.

The Eclipse has two helipads.

Bullet proof glass and armor plates wrapping the length of Roman's master suite and the bridge.

And a German built missile defense system.

The ship's also supposed to have a laser defense against paparazzi trying to photograph the yacht's guests, but saw no evidence of the device when we were there.

The Eclipse has three launch boats.

That looked to be stocked with medical supplies and a variety of handheld radios.

From the cruise ship parking lot it felt like we were almost on the Eclipse itself.

But with little chance we'd be invited aboard through the ship's door here ...

... We hoped to find one of the 70 crew members required to sail the Eclipse and see if they'd tell us what ship life was like.

But we found no one interested in talking.

But we certainly didn't feel like paparazzi, or that we'd be lasered, when we were in the parking lot tourists use when they arrive to board their cruise.

From up here the ship was simply stunning and the amount of work required to keep her that way apparent.

The Yacht Report says owning a superyacht costs about 20% of the ship's initial value every year.

But experts believe that Roman probably pays $75 million a year to run the private cruise ship with 24-guest suites.

Looking at the layout of the ship gets us talking about the two swimming pools inside, the disco, cinema, hair salon, and restaurant.

The billionaire's guests would use this door to enter any fore part of the deck.

Perhaps noting where the life rings were as they made their way about the ship.

At 13,000 gross tons the Eclipse is the largest vessel to use a special stabilization system to keep it calm in rough waters while anchored or moving slowly through the sea.

Roman will face a $150,000 tab for parking the Eclipse here while possibly visiting his daughter and her new baby — about $2,000 a day.

A large yacht like the Eclipse can hold over 100,000 gallons of fuel.

That fuel burns at about $3,000 per hour making a five hour cruise each way, about $30,000.

None of those numbers are likely to concern Roman Abramovich, however, who has an estimated net worth of more than $10 billion.

Not much compares to the Eclipse

But check out the equally beautiful Imperial Princess >

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Roman Abramovich’s £1bn superyacht Eclipse with missile defence system sails through the Med amid sanctions hunt

• Adrian Zorzut
• Published : 15:03, 14 Mar 2022
• Updated : 15:30, 14 Mar 2022

ROMAN Abramovich's £1bn superyacht Eclipse, which has its own missile defence system, has sailed through the Mediterranean - amid a sanctions hunt for the billionaire's assets.

The luxury ship may be making its way to  Montenegro  to join the Chelsea boss's other super yacht after he had his assets frozen by the UK.

It comes as EU officials freeze the assets of oligarchs funding Vladimir Putin's bloody war in Ukraine.

Montenegro and the Maldives do not have extradition treaties with the US, meaning that it is a safe haven for the yachts.

The Eclipse could be joining its £430m sister yacht the My Solaris, which was spotted in Tivat, Montenegro, on Saturday.

The Eclipse was last seen in the Caribbean sailing away from St Martin, and has moved through the Strait of Gibraltar, according to tracking data.

Read more on Roman Abramovich

Map reveals where sanctioned Abramovich's superyachts are sailing right now

Abramovich's jet 'lands in Tel Aviv' as Israel is warned not to be safe haven

Staff on the ship have refused to say where it is going.

They told the Canarian Weekly : "[We] never give out any of this kind of information.

"We haven't done it before and we won’t start now. Not only regarding yachts but also other means of transport owned by him."

The vessel has no end destination and its status is set to "cruising", according to Marine Traffic .

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Abramovich's £50m private jet touched down in Tel Aviv on Sunday after taking off from Moscow.

It's not known if  Abramovich , who is an Israeli citizen, was on the luxury Gulfstream G650ER jet - registered LX-Ray - when it arrived at Ben Gurion airport on Sunday night, in what was viewed as a bid to avoid his plane being confiscated by Western officials.

Israel has been criticised for not joining the US in imposing harsh economic sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

But the Israeli government has vowed not to be a safe haven for Russian billionaires.

The Eclipse cost just shy of £300million when he ordered it in 2010 – and at the time it was the biggest private yacht in the world.

But by the time the Russian billionaire finally got the keys, the luxury extras and security measures had trebled costs to close to £1billion.

The giant ship 533ft long and has fuel tanks said to be able to hold a million litres, meaning it can travel 6,000 miles before it needs topping up.

Eclipse boasts nine decks, the top one containing two helipads and a garage, and has a beauty salon, sauna, and massage room.

Abramovich’s  baby also comes with armour-plated to repel bullets and is protected by an anti-ballistic missile defence system installed by German experts AST.

The Eclipse is also equipped with a three person submarine that can descend to a depth of 160ft, should the oligarch need to make a hasty get-away.

Solaris, which was built for the billionaire in 2021, is 458ft long - and it's taller than Buckingham Palace.

Staff on the megayacht reportedly claimed that scaffolding was ripped from the ship while it was undergoing repairs in a shipyard in Barcelona in an attempt to ensure the boat could leave quickly.

The £430million vessel was most recently tracked off the coast of Lecce, in Southern Italy, after leaving Spain.

Abramovich's superyacht joined a scramble of Russian-owned vessels hastily leaving European ports on Wednesday.

It comes as the UK impounded a private jet connected to the Russian oligarch at Farnborough Airport, according to CNBC.

The government also seized £3.2billion of Abramovich's UK assets and stopped him from selling his share of Chelsea Football Club.

Abramovich is worth £10.4billion, according to Forbes, and owns a £150million mansion in Kensington, a £33milliion West London penthouse and yachts,  private jets , helicopters and supercars worth more than £1.2billion

Chelsea on Friday  had their accounts frozen , after sanctions came in to ban the club from selling tickets and merchandise.

Read More on The Sun

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Telecom firm sponsors  Three pulled out of their £40million-a-year deal with the club , and the team has two weeks to find a new buyer who can fork out the £28million per month wage bill or go into administration.

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The Government said it is prepared to approve the 117-year-old club’s sale as long as Abramovich does not receive a penny.

• Roman Abramovich

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Posted: March 11, 2024 | Last updated: March 11, 2024

Find out where to spot Jupiter and Mercury this month. A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur on the evening of March 24-25. Comet 12p/Pons-Brooks may be visible to the unaided eye later in the month as well. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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