Trump recounts how Army pilots involved in helicopter crash and drone boat rescue were ‘very lucky’ – DefenseScoop
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An Iranian “bomb” got lodged in a U.S. military helicopter earlier this week, but fortunately for the pilots, the weapon didn’t explode, President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday.
An Army AH-64 Apache crashed during a patrol operation Monday near the Strait of Hormuz. The two U.S. soldiers who were on board the aircraft survived and were later rescued by a Navy Corsair maritime drone operated by 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59, according to U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins.
The helicopter was reportedly struck by an Iranian attack drone. Centcom on Tuesday said the cause of the incident was under investigation. Trump later wrote on social media that military personnel told him that the aircraft was “shot down” by Iran.
At the White House on Wednesday, Trump remarked about the incident.
The Apache pilots were “very lucky that bomb didn’t explode. That bomb was lodged in the helicopter, it didn’t explode, it was on fire, but it didn’t explode. It’s just those two guys, they knew how to fly, but they got very lucky. And then we had the unmanned boat going very, very fast at speeds that you wouldn’t want to go,” Trump said. “But they [were] rescued, so … fortunately the pilots are OK.”
The use of the unmanned surface vessel for the rescue effort appears to be a first-of-its-kind operation for the U.S. military.
Trump called it an “amazing rescue.”
“If you ever get a clip, you won’t believe the rescue, how cool it was [and] the equipment we have,” he told reporters.
The Corsair, manufactured by Saronic, is an autonomous surface vessel that can operate at speeds greater than 35 knots and carry up to 1,000 pounds over 1,000 nautical miles, according to a product description.
“At Saronic, we build autonomous vessels to extend capability into the most demanding and dangerous environments,” the company said in a social media post Wednesday. “Proud to support the men and women of the U.S. armed forces — and grateful to the team that made it possible.”
In a separate social media post on Wednesday, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit touted its role in helping the Navy acquire the Corsair.
The platform used in the operation was developed and expedited through DIU’s PRIME program, according to the unit. That initiative, which focused on small drone boats with swarming capabilities, was launched in early 2024.
The program “successfully prototyped, validated and delivered mission-ready vehicles to the Navy in under 15 months,” DIU stated in a social media post. “The delivery speed was 50% to 70% faster than legacy acquisition approaches, which previously took more than six years.”
The organization noted that the platform is one of “many” that have been deployed by the Navy, adding that DIU is committed to “using autonomous technology across domains to get our warfighters out of harm’s way.”
Hawkins, the Centcom spokesperson, told DefenseScoop that Task Force 59 began fielding the Corsair drones in theater in late March.
Meanwhile, the command has been conducting what it calls “self-defense strikes” against Iran in response to the downing of the Apache.
“We’re going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard,” Trump said Wednesday. “Based on the helicopter [incident], I guess we have the right to do that. You know, they shot down … an incredible machine.”
