The rescue of the two pilots whose attack helicopter fell into the sea this Monday in waters near the Strait of Hormuz has supposed the first time, at least known, that the United States has used a drone ship for this type of operation. It is about the Corsaira USV, acronym for unmanned surface vesseldeveloped by Saronic Technologies and that the US Navy had first deployed at the end of March in the region, just two and a half months before the rescue.
The causes of the loss of the AH-64 Apachewhich has led to a new escalation in the war with Iran and once again tests the fragile truce reached in April. The president of the United States, donald trumpassured yesterday that ‘Iranians shot down one of our high-tech Apache helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz’in a publication on the Truth social network, and that he would respond to the attack, as has happened.
Although CENTCOM, the United States Central Commandinitially said that the pilots ‘were rescued by US forces after their helicopter crashed near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters’, In subsequent communications he has stated that he was shot down.
Iran has denied his involvement in the incident, but, according to a US official cited by AP, The Apache fell after colliding with an Iranian drone. It is unknown if the collision was intentional.
Prototype to production in under 12 months. The @Saronic OTA proves how we’ll build a hybrid manned–unmanned Fleet: open competition, real contracts, real hardware for Sailors and Marines not slides. This is now the standard. pic.twitter.com/cC9DG7jTiW
— Archive: Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan (@SecNavPhelan) December 8, 2025
Operated by Task Force 59 of the Fifth Fleet
The rescue was carried out with the support of US Navy units, including the Task Force 59 of the Fifth Fleetresponsible for integrating unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles, along with AI, into the Fifth Fleet’s maritime operations.
‘‘The surface drone that assisted in last night’s rescue of the Apache crew off the coast of Oman was a US Navy Corsair unmanned surface ship, operated by Task Force 59 of the US Fifth Fleet. The Task Force began deploying these drones in the theater of operations at the end of March,’ said the captain. Tim Hawkinsspokesperson for US Central Command, in a statement.
As another military spokesperson told The New York Times, The drone boat had taken the pilots to a point in the water where they could be lifted by a waiting helicopter.. The War Zone media outlet points out that it is not known how many Corsair USVs Task Force 59 currently has or the exact configuration of the drone used in the rescue. Their arrival in the area occurred a few months after the Navy signed a production contract with Saronic valued at 392 million dollarsindicating that the Corsair is already part of a broader effort to integrate unmanned vessels into real operations.
This is the Corsair that rescued the AH-64 Apache pilots
The Corsair is an autonomous surface vessel. 7.3 meters in lengthdeveloped by Saronic Technologies, a defense company based in Austin, Texas. Saronic’s website describes the Corsair as capable of carrying up to 454 kilos during 1,852 kilometerswith a maximum speed greater than 34 knots, about 63km/h.
The images and videos released so far by Saronic show the Corsair configured mainly for surveillance and reconnaissance missionswith a camera turret installed on a central structure, a commercial navigation radar, additional cameras to improve situational awareness and several antennas.
According to the manufacturer, a drone boat of this type is capable of perform continuous autonomous standby operationsin which the Corsair maintains its location while autonomously regulating power consumption and only activating the engine when necessary. The drone boat can also survive various sea conditions, including waves more than 1.5 meters high.
Saronic assures that the Corsair can operate alone or integrated into USV swarmswith minimal human intervention, although operators can monitor and take control of the drone via data link when necessary. According to the company, the vessel employs redundant communications and passive perception capabilities to identify, track and intercept targets in contested environments or with degraded communications, something that is also useful for locating survivors at sea.
In 2025, we logged more than 79,000 nautical miles and over 15,000 hours of total operations with Corsair, our 24-ft ASV. Much of this was done on our own dime, operating 6 days a week at our test sites on the West Coast, East Coast, Gulf Coast, and beyond, allowing us to… pic.twitter.com/PZETeJia17
— Saronic (@Saronic) January 9, 2026
Saronic also describes how, during a week-long exercise in January 2026, a fleet of eight Corsairs operated for more than 92 continuous hours while demonstrating autonomous missions and behaviors in ‘environments without communications’. The mission’s human operators could still monitor and control the drone ships from a land base when necessary.