No Crew, No Mercy: U.S. Sea Kamikaze Drones Strike Iran in the Dead of Night
On July 12, 2026, U.S. forces conducted what U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) describes as an unprecedented mission in the history of naval warfare: three autonomous vessels armed with explosives struck the Iranian naval base of Bandar Abbas, damaging a Ghadir-class mini-submarine and a maintenance facility for ships and submarines.
The operation, attributed to Task Force 59 of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, employed three Saronic Corsair units developed by the Texas-based Saronic Technologies. These are composite-hulled vessels approximately 7.3 meters long, capable of carrying up to 450 kg of payload for over 1,000 nautical miles at a maximum speed exceeding 34 knots. According to reports, the three drones approached the targets autonomously and "at low speed, without being intercepted," before converging near the submarine suspended on a maintenance scaffolding and self-destructing.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM)
July 13, 2026
This marks the first time that a major naval force has employed multiple unmanned surface units in a coordinated offensive action against an enemy naval base. Until now, the use of remotely controlled explosive vessels had been the prerogative of non-state actors or asymmetric military forces: the first documented recording dates back to January 2017, when Houthi rebels struck a Saudi frigate in the Red Sea with a vessel likely developed with Iranian technical support. More recently, Ukraine has extensively used explosive naval drones against the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
The attack on Bandar Abbas thus marks a paradigm shift: a major naval power adopts the same tools previously employed by smaller forces, but in an offensive rather than defensive role. The Corsair units, in addition to long-range autonomous navigation capability, are equipped with AI-based guidance systems and hulls designed to reduce radar signature.