Surface Naval Drone Rescued Downed US Apache Crew, Pentagon Says

A surface naval drone helped rescue two downed crew members from a US Army AH-64 Apache that crashed off the coast of Oman, according to US Central Command, the first time an unmanned vehicle was used in such an operation.

The 24-foot Corsair autonomous surface vessel used in the rescue was manufactured by Saronic Technologies Inc. and was operated by the US 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59 unit that includes surface, underwater and one-way attack drones.

The Corsair “assisted in last night’s rescue,” US Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said in a statement. The drone picked up the downed Apache operators and transported them to another location on the water where they were hoisted by a rescue helicopter, he said.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said Iran had shot down the helicopter and vowed a response.

The boat-like Corsair is able to haul 1,000 pounds for about 1,000 nautical miles (roughly 1,850 kilometers), according to the company.

Task Force 59 was set up in September 2021 by the US Navy’s 5th Fleet “to rapidly integrate unmanned systems and artificial intelligence with maritime operations” in the Persian Gulf. “The Task Force began fielding these drones in late March,” Hawkins said.

The rescue highlights the non-lethal importance of unmanned systems that, to date, have drawn wide interest for their destructive attack capabilities.

The Pentagon’s largest-ever budget request for fiscal 2027 earmarks around $75 billion for drones and counter-drone technologies, mainly for a massive increase for a little-known office working with US commandos to test and evaluate various weapons systems, according to defense officials.

In December, then-Navy Secretary John Phelan praised Saronic on X for developing the Corsair from prototype to production in just 12 months under a streamlined contract mechanism that “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.”