You have to see this because it's a massive shift in how the US military operates, and the tech irony is just too good not to share. On July 12, three American "one-way attack surface drones" hit an Iranian midget submarine and ship maintenance facility at Bandar Abbas Naval Base — catch: the Ghadir sub was out of water on a gantry during the strike. This marks the first time US combat operations used sea drones, nearly ten years after Iran and Houthi forces first deployed them; you can't beat that kind of strategic pivot. The military even released footage showing the boats making low-speed uncontested approaches before detonating, which is what they were built to do.
Under the hood are Saronic Corsair autonomous surface vessels from an Austin tech company — 24 feet long, up to 1000 pounds payload over a thousand miles at speeds past 34 knots, with automated patrol and loiter modes. This isn't their first rodeo either; on June 8 they used one of these same boats to rescue two Army helicopter pilots off Oman after an AH-64 Apache was downed by Iranian Shahed drone. It tells you something when the US fleet is being repaired by the tech Iran deployed, so it makes sense that they built a counter. The ship's design allows for precisely timed detonations at specific coordinates without any crew on board, which lowers risk while still delivering an explosive punch right where needed.
The history here goes even deeper than most people realize — Houthi forces first launched an uncrewed boat attack against Saudi frigate Al Madinah back in 2017 with Iranian help. Ukraine has a whole fleet of these now after Russia's invasion, forcing the Russian Black Sea Fleet to retreat and including one that literally shot down helicopters from its deck and another that deployed an armed ground robot onto contested coast — which is wild engineering for anyone who builds stuff. The US military also rolled out LUCAS aerial drones modeled on Iranian Shaheds during this same conflict, showing how asymmetric warfare has scaled up the chain. It means low-cost drone solutions are winning across every level of command, and that's a story worth following to its end.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/us-military-sent-explosive-drone-boats-into-combat-for-the-first-time/
Under the hood are Saronic Corsair autonomous surface vessels from an Austin tech company — 24 feet long, up to 1000 pounds payload over a thousand miles at speeds past 34 knots, with automated patrol and loiter modes. This isn't their first rodeo either; on June 8 they used one of these same boats to rescue two Army helicopter pilots off Oman after an AH-64 Apache was downed by Iranian Shahed drone. It tells you something when the US fleet is being repaired by the tech Iran deployed, so it makes sense that they built a counter. The ship's design allows for precisely timed detonations at specific coordinates without any crew on board, which lowers risk while still delivering an explosive punch right where needed.
The history here goes even deeper than most people realize — Houthi forces first launched an uncrewed boat attack against Saudi frigate Al Madinah back in 2017 with Iranian help. Ukraine has a whole fleet of these now after Russia's invasion, forcing the Russian Black Sea Fleet to retreat and including one that literally shot down helicopters from its deck and another that deployed an armed ground robot onto contested coast — which is wild engineering for anyone who builds stuff. The US military also rolled out LUCAS aerial drones modeled on Iranian Shaheds during this same conflict, showing how asymmetric warfare has scaled up the chain. It means low-cost drone solutions are winning across every level of command, and that's a story worth following to its end.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/us-military-sent-explosive-drone-boats-into-combat-for-the-first-time/