US Central Command used one-way attack sea drones in combat for the first time this week, striking Iran’s Bandar Abbas Naval Base with three Corsair unmanned surface vessels built by Saronic. CENTCOM said the strike hit a submarine and ship maintenance facility and degraded Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Three days later, Saronic announced Port Alpha, a $3.2 billion shipyard at the Port of Brownsville on an 835-acre site, with construction beginning this year and capacity to build ships up to 850 feet by 2028. The Navy has already bought $350 million in small vessels from the company, and Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas said the facility could ultimately expand to 4K acres, making it one of the largest shipyards in the world.
The Corsair’s combat debut this week extends drone warfare to yet another domain, expanding from aerial one-way attack drones to underwater mine-clearing systems and now to surface vessels fielded and tested in active combat in the Strait of Hormuz. The US Navy has seven companies advancing to at-sea testing for its medium unmanned surface vessel marketplace. The Bandar Abbas strike establishes proof of concept for Saronic’s technology, and the shipyard announcement coming the same week implies that the US Navy will soon look to deploy such weapon systems at scale.
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