A 24-foot autonomous drone boat just saved two American lives — and may have permanently rewritten the rules of military search and rescue.
A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashed at 7:33 p.m. EDT Monday in waters off the coast of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, leaving its two-person crew in the water. President Trump said Tuesday that Iran shot down the helicopter while it was patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the United States "must, of necessity, respond to this attack."
"There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Iran has not publicly claimed responsibility.
How those two soldiers got out alive is the story.
The drone used in the rescue was a 24-foot vessel called a Corsair, manufactured by Saronic Technologies, and assigned to Task Force 59, the Navy's AI and drone unit stood up in 2021 to police maritime security across the Middle East.
The surface drone ferried the soldiers to a staging point on the water, where a helicopter hoisted them to safety. The two crew members were rescued within approximately two hours.
U.S. officials are calling it exactly what it is: the first time an unmanned surface drone has been used to successfully rescue crew members at sea. The military had rehearsed this capability. Monday night was the first time it was done for real.
The Corsair is a 24-foot autonomous surface vessel designed for rugged, long-duration missions. It can operate at speeds greater than 35 knots, carry up to 1,000 pounds, and cover 1,000 nautical miles — with all-around sensor coverage for round-the-clock operations, which likely proved critical in locating the downed crew in dark, open water.
Saronic Technologies is an Austin, Texas-based defense tech company. Reports indicate Saronic is already planning to manufacture hundreds of Corsair vessels to meet projected demand.
Army AH-64 Apaches have been part of a U.S. military effort to enforce an ongoing blockade of Iran and protect commercial shipping. Last month, a joint Apache and Navy MH-60 Seahawk operation took out six Iranian fast boats that had been menacing commercial traffic near the Strait.
The shoot-down of this Apache is the latest escalation in a theater that has been reshaped, month by month, by drone warfare — from Iran's Shahed attacks on commercial shipping, to American drone boats patrolling some of the world's most contested waters. Now those same drone boats are pulling American soldiers out of the sea.
