U.S. officials have rejected an Iranian claim that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked or captured an American Saildrone unmanned surface vessel near the Strait of Hormuz, after video circulated on social media purportedly showing a Saildrone craft in flames.
“All of our Saildrones are accounted for and fully operational,” a U.S. official told Military Times. The statement directly disputes the implication of the Iranian footage, which was shared Wednesday and presented as showing an American uncrewed vessel after an IRGC attack.
Separate underwater-vehicle incident
The video emerged shortly after a separate episode involving an Anduril Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle. That vehicle, designed for long-range surveillance and other undersea missions, was captured on Sept. 8.
U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, speaking for U.S. Central Command, told Reuters that the captured system was a defective older model and did not collect sensitive data or carry classified sonar or radar equipment. Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Reuters that Iran would view such an episode as a propaganda opportunity and that it could help the IRGC improve its own designs.
Voyager fleet operations
Saildrone’s Voyager USV is a 33-foot platform designed for persistent surface and subsurface surveillance, as well as nearshore mapping and seafloor-characterization missions. The company says the vessel can remain on mission and on station for months at a time.
In August, the Navy awarded Saildrone Voyager a $16.3 million task order to extend operations of the Voyager fleet in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. According to the award announcement, Saildrone USVs have supported Joint Interagency Task Force South and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Navy Fourth Fleet since 2023. Saildrone has described the systems as both a deterrent and an alarm along the United States’ southern maritime border.
