What to know about the sea drone that rescued downed Apache crew

In the latest sign that unmanned vehicles are an increasingly pivotal part of a modern military, a drone boat rescued the two-person crew from the U.S. Apache helicopter gunship that went down near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command said.

It was the first U.S. rescue carried out by an autonomous surface vessel, remotely piloted by a human operator, the Central Command spokesman, Capt. Tim Hawkins, said on Tuesday.

“The surface drone that assisted in last night’s rescue of the Apache crew off the coast of Oman was a U.S. Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59,” Captain Hawkins said in a text message. “The task force began fielding these drones in theater in late March.”

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