Transcription
After a US Apache helicopter crew was shot down in the Middle East, an American-made drone boat just saved their lives near the Strait of Hormuz. And it may have changed search and rescue forever.
The American Apache helicopter went down Monday night in waters off Oman. Details of how the shootdown occurred not revealed, but what we do know is how the crew got out alive. And that part is a first.
The US Navy's Task Force 59, the military's AI and drone unit in the Middle East, revealed in a 2023 document the type of capability deployed to rescue the two soldiers. Remotely operated uncrewed surface vehicles, USVs, used to locate the crew and bring them safely to shore. It is the first known time a drone boat has executed a personnel recovery at sea. The military had rehearsed it. They had never done it for real.
The Apache was patrolling regional waters when it went down. How it came into harm's way by Iranian fire. That's still under investigation. What is not under investigation, drone warfare has been reshaping this theater for months now. Drone rescue has too.
The drone boat manufacturer Seronic Technologies, an American defense tech company based in Austin, Texas. According to the specs they've published, it can travel a thousand nautical miles and carry up to 1,000 pounds.
Jason Bellini, Scripps News Group, Washington.