Defense One: Iranian Navy Tries To Steal US Unmanned Vessel At Sea (30 Aug 2022)
”An American unmanned surface vessel in the Persian Gulf was almost taken in the dead of night Monday by an Iranian ship before U.S. Navy forces intervened, according to officials.
The Saildrone Explorer USV was seen in international waters being towed behind the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy support ship Shahid Baziar around 11 p.m. local time “in an attempt to detain it,” a 5th Fleet statement said on Tuesday.
The patrol coastal ship USS Thunderbolt responded from nearby and a MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter was also sent from Bahrain. Bridge-to-bridge communication was used to tell the IRGCN ship that the drone was U.S. government property, Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a 5th Fleet spokesman, told Defense One in an email.”
Pretty brazen but no harm done in the end. Some interesting details in the article though, well worth the short read.
Update: Iran Tries To Steal More Drone Boats In Mideast Waters (03 Sep 2022)
“The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy ship Jamaran took two Saildrone Explorers that were operating close to one another in the Red Sea, at about 2 p.m. Thursday local time, according to a Friday statement by U.S. 5th Fleet. The command said it “detected” the Iranian ship as it moved to the drones and hauled them from the water.
Two nearby U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers, the USS Nitze and Delbert D. Black, responded quickly.
According to a U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Nitze sent a MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter ahead to the Iranian ship as the destroyers made their way to intercept. The helicopter crew spotted the Saildrones on the ship’s deck, but as they approached, the Iranian crew began to throw tarps on top of them “to try to hide the fact that they had seized these unmanned vessels.”” (bold emphasis mine)