In apparent first, Navy drone boat rescues helicopter crew downed at sea
Saronic Corsair Saronic
ByThomas Novelly,
Senior Reporter
June 9, 2026 11:48 PM ET
The unmanned vessel, made by Texas-based Saronic, was sent to the region in March.
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...
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