The US has used “one-way” sea drones for the first time in combat against Iran, the military’s Central Command has said, as the two countries continue to trade blows despite a ceasefire agreement.
Centcom, which has led the US war effort against Iran, said it used “one-way attack aerial drones and one-way attack sea drones for the first time” in strikes against Iran on Sunday. They were deployed alongside fighter aircraft and naval vessels.
A video released by Centcom shows three sea drones approaching an Iranian pier before exploding on impact.
“Three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations,” Centcom said. “Last night’s strikes degraded Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial shipping.”
The sea drones appear no different from small boats as they approach the pier, before delivering a deadly explosive on impact.
The Corsair sea drone was developed by defence tech start-up Saronic. It costs less than $1 million each and was designed to carry various missions, the company has said. The aerial drone used on Sunday is known as the Lucas, which is short for Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System. It was unveiled late last year and first used in combat in February.
The US military says such drones cost just $35,000 each and are an example of “low-cost, scalable capabilities to strengthen regional security and deterrence”. The use of relatively low-cost attack methods reflects a wider preference for cheaper methods of war in the conflict, which rumbles on despite an initial US-Iran peace deal signed in June.
One-way attack drones are widely understood to refer to suicide drones, which carry explosives and detonate on contact. Iran's unmanned Shahed drones have been a central part of the country's tactics during the wider war, and Iran has also exported them to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.
The Lucas drone was unveiled late last year and can be launched by rocket, catapult or from vehicles. One US official said last year that the design of the Lucas drone was based on the Shahed and intended to “flip the script on Iran”.
Drone warfare has played an integral part in the wider regional conflict that broke out earlier this year between Iran, the US and Israel, along with other countries. Hezbollah has used First Person View drones in its latest conflict with Israel, partly using them for propaganda purposes to demonstrate purported battlefield wins. Israel's use of surveillance drones over Lebanon remains a menace.
US and Iranian forces had exchanged heavy missile and drone attacks over the weekend and into Monday, with Iran saying it had struck US military facilities across the Gulf and had kept the Strait of Hormuz closed, driving oil prices higher.
