President Trump has begun the attacks on Iran after Iran shot down a US Apache helicopter. Both pilots were rescued in a first-ever drone-boat rescue. The pilots are stable. President Trump said they are fine.
You can read about the boat below.
President Trump began the powerful retaliatory strikes at 5 p.m. ET today.
Big blow for Iran
Command Center, Air Defence Systems, Radar, Drone Storage facility & missile launchers have been targeted in ongoing joint ops by the US Navy and Airforce in Iran. IRGC positions in Qeshm Island,Bandar Abbas,Sirik Island & Bandar-e-Jask have been targeted. pic.twitter.com/KzhtzX6HFf
— Baba Banaras™ (@RealBababanaras) June 9, 2026
IRAN LATEST
Trump just said our response “should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is,” per ABC.
So far, we’ve launched at least 7 strikes and have hit Bandar Abbas, Minab, Qeshm, and Sirik in southern Iran.
Stay tuned, this is just the beginning. Fly… pic.twitter.com/yK8eP6K0bH
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) June 9, 2026
This is the Corsair unmanned drone boat that saved the US pilots.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed a Saronic Corsair was the uncrewed surface vessel (USV) that rescued the crew of a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache out of the Gulf of Oman overnight.
“The surface drone that assisted in last night’s rescue of the Apache crew off the coast of Oman was a U.S. Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59,” U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesman, told TWZ. “The task force began fielding these drones in theater in late March.”
The Navy confirmed last December that it had signed an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) deal with Saronic. The deal is valued at $392 million to produce Corsair USVs. The Corsair, which the manufacturer also calls an autonomous surface vessel (ASV), is a 24-foot-long drone boat. The boat has a speedboat-like design and was first unveiled in 2024. The manufacturer says it has a maximum range of 1,000 nautical miles, a top speed of 35 knots, and a 1,000-pound payload capacity.
Prototype to production in under 12 months. The @Saronic OTA proves how we’ll build a hybrid manned–unmanned Fleet: open competition, real contracts, real hardware for Sailors and Marines not slides. This is now the standard. pic.twitter.com/cC9DG7jTiW
— Archive: Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan (@SecNavPhelan) December 8, 2025
