Free Republic

A US drone boat conducted a first-of-its-kind rescue mission to save the crew of an American Apache helicopter that crashed near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, the military said. The unmanned vessel, powered by artificial intelligence, located the crew who had been stuck for two hours in the waters off the coast of Oman, bringing them to shore, the Wall Street Journal reported. The operation marks the first time a high-tech US Navy drone deployed to the Middle East was used to conduct a rescue mission. The Navy previous deployed a Seahawk medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) with an...

A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter went down near the coast of Oman Monday evening while on patrol, with both crew members rescued within two hours in what military officials are describing as a historic first: the first known rescue of downed military personnel by an unmanned surface vessel. U.S. Central Command confirmed Tuesday that the two U.S. Army AH-64 Apache pilots were rescued near the Strait of Hormuz after their helicopter went down near the coast of Oman on Monday evening. The Apache was "patrolling regional waters" when the incident occurred, CENTCOM said. A Task Force 59 unmanned...

Yesterday, the ongoing disruption of shipping in the Red Sea took an interesting turn. The Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV), a threat well known to anyone who has operated in the Gulf in the last few years – and very well known to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, some of whom have taken up residency on the bottom as a result – made its appearance in the southern Red Sea. So far, details are scant. Vice Admiral Cooper, the US Fifth Fleet commander based in Bahrain, said: “This was a one-way attack, unmanned surface vessel that had launched from Houthi-controlled territory,...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy said Wednesday it will begin a new task force with allied countries to patrol the Red Sea after a series of attacks attributed to Yemen's Houthi rebels in a waterway that's essential to global trade. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who oversees the Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet, declined four times to directly name the Iran-backed Houthis in his remarks to journalists announcing the task force. However, the Houthis have launched explosive-laden drone boats and mines into the waters of the Red Sea, which runs from Egypt's Suez Canal in the north, down...