In apparent first, Navy drone boat rescues helicopter crew downed at sea

A U.S. Navy drone boat rescued the crew of an Army helicopter downed near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening,an apparent first for the U.S. military. 

The AH-64 Apache went down around 7:30 p.m. ET near the coast of Oman while “patrolling international waters,” U.S. Central Command officials said in a Tuesday news release. Roughly two hours later, a Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by 5th Fleet’s drone-focused Task Force 59 arrived on the scene, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson. 

The Corsair is a 24-foot robot boat made by Texas-based defense tech firm Saronic. Task Force 59 began operating the boats in March. 

The boat picked up the crew members and transported them to another location on the water. They were then retrieved by a helicopter for further transport, and are currently in stable condition, Hawkins said. 

The rescue effort included help from U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, the 82nd Airborne Division, and unnamed Air Force and Navy units, the press release said. 

Task Force 59 has been the Navy’s half-decade-long effort to integrate AI and unmanned systems into Middle East waters. The unit is under the 5th Fleet’s vast area of responsibility, which includes the Suez Canal, the Strait of Bab al Mandeb, and the Strait of Hormuz—which remains mostly closed to commercial shipping as the U.S. war in Iran stretches into more than 100 days. 

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper, who oversees U.S. military operations in Iran, previously led 5th Fleet. 

Task Force has adopted mostly a contractor-owned and -operated acquisition model to field a wide variety of drones used during exercises in the region.

“Looking ahead, we will continue to apply lessons learned as we increase our operational capabilities through ‘manned-unmanned teaming’ concepts,” Cooper told Defense One in 2023.

Apache woes

It’s not immediately clear what led the Apache to be “lost at sea,” CENTCOM said in a news release. Citing U.S. officials, CNN reported that the helicopter was hit by an Iranian Shahed drone. 

President Donald Trump said on social media that “the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters” and added the U.S. must “respond to this attack.”

Since March, there have been at least three stateside Apache mishaps and one sudden landing overseas. Last month, Defense One exclusively reported that the Army was investigating a transmission problem on some of its AH-64E model helicopters. 

Crew members can “experience an internal failure resulting in loss of accessory gearbox drive, which can result in loss of tail rotor thrust, electrical power, and hydraulics,” an April internal memo reviewed by Defense One said. 

Service officials declined to say how many helicopters were affected by the transmission problem.

Hawkins told Defense One the cause of Tuesday’s Apache rescue is under investigation.