A US Army Apache helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz, and two crew members were later rescued by an unmanned surface vessel called Corsair.
According to multiple reports citing US military officials, the operation took place off the coast of Oman and was carried out using a drone boat developed by Texas-based Saronic Technologies, which was co-founded by Indian-American engineer Vibhav Altekar.
US officials described it as the first rescue of its kind by an autonomous surface vessel.
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Proud moment
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Meet Vibhav Altekar, the Indian-American engineer whose defense startup built the Corsair drone boat
The autonomous vessel just made history by rescuing two downed US Army Apache pilots from the high-risk Strait of Hormuz pic.twitter.com/bTWeACweSR
Corsair drone boat and the rescue mission
The vessel involved was a 24-foot Corsair drone boat, which runs on diesel fuel, can travel at speeds of up to 35 knots, carries up to 1,000 pounds, and has a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles.
The boat is part of the US Navy’s Task Force 59, the uncrewed and AI-focused unit operating in the Middle East.
The drone located the crew and transferred them to another location on the water for further evacuation by helicopter.
A Texas-built drone boat just made history, executing the first sea drone rescue in combat.
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This is what happens when you let businesses innovate and give them freedom to build.
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Who is Vibhav Altekar?
Altekar is listed as chief technology officer at Saronic Technologies.
According to company profile details, he studied electrical engineering at the University of California and leads work on the company’s autonomous systems and software architecture.
The profile also says he oversees Forward Deployed Engineering, Product, Special Programs, and Software, working across perception, navigation, machine learning, command and control, and systems integration.
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Saronic Technologies and its rise
Saronic Technologies is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and was founded in September 2022 by Dino Mavrookas, Doug Lambert, Rob Lehman, and Altekar.
The company has a reported $392 million production contract with the US Navy for autonomous surface vessels. Altekar’s earlier work has included engineering roles at Anduril, where he worked on multiple programs, including the Royal Australian Navy’s Ghost Shark drone submarine.
FAQs
Q1: Who is Vibhav Altekar?
Ans: Vibhav Altekar is an Indian-American engineer and CTO of Saronic Technologies, the company behind the Corsair drone boat used in the Strait of Hormuz rescue mission.
Q2: What made the Strait of Hormuz drone boat rescue significant?
Ans: US officials said it was the first known rescue at sea carried out by an autonomous surface vessel, marking a milestone for unmanned maritime technology.
