U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has released video of what it describes as the first operational use of the Corsair one-way attack surface drone, employed during yesterday's strikes against a ship and submarine maintenance facility at Bandar Abbas, Iran.
According to CENTCOM, the strike was intended to further degrade Iran's naval capabilities and its ability to threaten commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
While the Corsair's capabilities have been known within defense circles for some time, they did not become widely publicized until last month's rescue of the crew of a downed U.S. Army AH-64 Apache near the Strait of Hormuz. In that operation, a Corsair autonomously reached the survivors after they had spent approximately two hours in the water, recovered them, and ferried them to a rendezvous point where U.S. forces completed the rescue.
The latest operation demonstrates the platform's versatility, showing that the same unmanned surface vessel can be configured for both precision strike missions and personnel recovery, depending on operational requirements.