The US military has used one-way attack sea drones during operations against Iran overnight, United States Central Command announced. It was the first time that such unmanned surface vessels have been used in the ongoing war.
“CENTCOM forces struck Iranian military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats using US fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time,” the command said.
CENTCOM has not made the sort of platform used in the operations public, but the command has been integrating several sorts of unmanned surface vessels (USV) in recent months.
Last month a Corsair USV manufactured by Saronic was instrumental in the rescue of two US Army helicopter crew members after their Apache helicopter was shot down in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman.
The Corsair was under the operational lead of the US Naval Force Central Command (NAVCENT) and the 82nd Airborne Division with Task Force 59. Task Force 59 is NAVCENT’s Unmanned Systems Unit, and it is the Navy’s primary hub for integrating drones and AI‑enabled maritime platforms.
In April, CENTCOM announced that it would be sending underwater drones to help clear the Strait of Hormuz.
“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage, and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, was quoted as saying at the time.
The press release added that “The Strait of Hormuz is an international sea passage and an essential trade corridor that supports regional and global economic prosperity. Additional US forces, including underwater drones, will join the clearance effort in the coming days.”
During the war, The New York Times reported that Iran had started laying naval mines in the Strait, effectively closing off the critical waterway to international shipping. About 20% of the world’s oil moves through that important chokepoint, as well as 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas.
Iran is estimated to have between 2,000 and 6,000 naval mines, and upward of 80-90 percent of its small boats and mine layers, making it possible to lay hundreds of mines in the waterway. Iran reportedly lost track of the locations of mines deployed in the Strait of Hormuz and has no clear idea of where all the mines were placed.
USV marketplace
The US Navy has been building a family of USVs and recently replaced its Modular Surface Attack Craft (MASC) program for the medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) marketplace.
The requirements for the designs include that the unmanned vessels have a range of 2,500 nautical miles with a speed of 25 knots in rough sea conditions. Each vessel should be able to carry 25 metric tons of containerized payload to carry out a variety of missions including strike, ISR, and transport.
According to the US Navy, “the MUSV marketplace creates new opportunities for smaller, non-traditional shipyards to build our future fleet. This initiative represents a strategic shift in naval acquisition, designed to rapidly field unmanned technologies by leveraging mature, existing commercial solutions.”
The US Navy recently announced seven companies that will be advancing to the at-sea testing phase: Sea Machines, Leidos, Saronic, Galliano Marine Services, PacMar Technologies, Birdon, and Huntington Ingalls Industries.
The companies that successfully complete the at-sea testing, which will be completed by this coming October, will receive $15 million for follow-on production.
Kamikaze drones
In addition to USVs, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has directed the acceleration of the acquisition and fielding of affordable drone technology. In December, CENTCOM announced that it had “launched Task Force Scorpion Strike (TFSS) designed to quickly deliver low-cost and effective drone capabilities into the hands of warfighters.”
The report says, “the new task force has already formed a squadron of Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones currently based in the Middle East.”
The V‑shaped LUCAS drones, developed by SpektreWorks, are reverse-engineered Shahed-136 Iranian drones that have been used extensively by Russia in Ukraine and by Iranian‑backed militias across the Middle East. The system was first used by CENTCOM in February.
The American LUCAS platform, which can be launched by various mechanisms including catapults, rocket-assisted takeoff, or mobile ground and vehicle systems, aims to be a low‑cost derivative designed for rapid production and deployment.
While the US has not disclosed the full capabilities of the LUCAS system, the combination of Task Force Scorpion Strike on land and Task Force 59 at sea indicates a coordinated effort to build a regional drone strike network in a heavily contested region.