The US military used a new naval drone to help rescue two American soldiers after Iran shot down their Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman.
US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said on Tuesday that American forces had rescued two US Army AH-64 Apache crew members after their helicopter went down while patrolling regional waters.
The soldiers were rescued within roughly two hours and are in stable condition, CENTCOM said in a statement, adding that the cause of the aircraft loss was under investigation.
Later on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that Iran “shot down” the Apache while it was patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz, vowing the US would “respond to this attack.”
US forces began launching “self-defense strikes” against Iran several hours later, the military said, calling it “a proportional response.”
Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, identified the drone that assisted in the Apache rescue mission as a Corsair uncrewed surface vessel operated by Task Force 59, a Middle East-based unit focused on integrating cutting-edge technologies into maritime operations.
US Army Reserve photo by Pfc. Luis Daniel Torres
Hawkins said the naval drone picked up the soldiers and moved them to another location on the water, where they were then lifted into a helicopter for further transport.
He said that “the task force began fielding these drones in theater in late March.”
The drone’s participation in the rescue mission appears to be an operational first for the military and comes amid a broader Pentagon push to integrate uncrewed systems into operations.
In its earlier statement, CENTCOM said that rescue efforts were led, in part, by the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an elite conventional infantry division that specializes in parachute-assault operations and rapid crisis response.
Thousands of soldiers from the 82nd deployed to the Middle East earlier in Operation Epic Fury, which began at the end of February, as the Trump administration weighed sending troops to conduct ground operations in Iran.
CENTCOM said that the Apache crew rescue mission was also supported by the US Air Force and US Navy.
Jake Epstein/Business Insider
The involvement of Corsair — a 24-foot-long surface drone developed by Texas-based Saronic Technologies — in Tuesday’s rescue mission is a significant development for Task Force 59, which was established in September 2021 and has been experimenting with uncrewed capabilities.
The US military has lost dozens of aircraft — including fighter jets, refueling tankers, helicopters, and combat drones — in the Middle East since the start of the Iran war; however, the latest incident marks the first Apache loss in the region since the conflict began.
These well-known attack helicopters, flown by the American military and several US allies, can be armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and have been used to target Iranian small boats around the Strait of Hormuz.
The loss comes amid a fragile, monthslong ceasefire between the US and Iran that has been stressed by exchanges of fire. The two sides have repeatedly traded fire in recent days, despite Trump’s insistence that a deal is near.
On Friday, for instance, the US military said it carried out strikes on Iranian radar sites after intercepting Iranian ballistic missiles and drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf states. And on Monday, Israel and Iran traded strikes, further testing the ceasefire.
