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U.S. forces have used modern one-way attack drones in combat for the first disclosed time, according to U.S. Central Command, bringing tactics pioneered by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Ukraine’s intelligence agencies into the playbook of the world’s best-funded military power.
On Sunday, three Saronic Corsair unmanned boats were used in a bomb-carrying configuration to strike a target in Bandar Abbas, Iran, the command said in a statement. Video released by CENTCOM shows the drone attacking a pier with a rail-mounted gantry on it. The gantry appeared to be carrying a miniature submarine, one of 20 in the inventory of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy. The video ends without a battle damage assessment.
U.S. air and naval forces have been carrying out airstrikes in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas for some time, destroying coastal radars, air defense sites and drone launch equipment. Central Command possesses multiple options for action in the area, and its decision to select a drone boat for a daylight attack suggests that the Bandar Abbas naval base has become a permissive environment for surface operations – and a suitable location to test out a new weapons system.
The Corsair is the same model that was used to rescue two helicopter pilots in the Strait of Hormuz last month. One unmanned Corsair navigated to the survivors’ location, and they climbed aboard for extraction from an area vulnerable to Iranian fire. Once they were clear, a SAR helicopter rendezvoused with the drone boat and hoisted the two pilots aboard. Both survived the ordeal.
FULL ARTICLE AVAILABLE HERE: maritime-executive.com
