We don’t need to arm these crews. the legal and liability reasons are many. We need to arm a couple of modern day “Q” ships with Navy SEALS and send them out to go hunting.
It shouldn’t be hard to put a few “special” containers of equipment and ammo onboard an easy looking merchant, along with a platoon who are prepared to forcibly repel boarders when attacked. If the pirates are using four or five vessels, then put 2 platoons onboard the bait vessel.
The only thing these “pirates” understand is the business end of a gun, and considering the ransoms being paid by gutless countries who never do seem to invest in their own defense, unless the US takes the lead in shutting this business down forcibly, it will only continue.
No prisoners.
Judging from the age and inexperience of the the pirates it seems likely that the actual perps are just kids being sent out there by warlords/mob bosses who are running the operations and taking in the finances from a secure land base or possibly a mother ship.
Those are the people we need to wipe out.