Downed

During the two most recent major Middle East conflicts it has been involved in, the U.S. Army swatted down more than 1,400 Iranian missiles and drones, according to the officer in charge of the Army’s air and missile defense. The figures provided by Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, and Joint Task Force-Gold, offer new context about the number of Army interceptions during these fights. His comments also come amid concerns about the tremendous expenditure of U.S. interceptors that has exacerbated the stress on America’s magazine depth of these high-end defensive weapons, an issue that TWZ has raised frequently for years. 

“For the last 14 months,” the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC), based at Fort Bliss, Texas, “has been in the largest air and missile defense fight in U.S. history,” Rafferty said during a panel at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium (SMD) in Huntsville, Alabama, attended by TWZ. “Over the 12-day war [between Iran and Israel], they successfully engaged 125 ballistic missiles, and during Operation Epic Fury, over 1,200 ballistic, cruise and UAS threats have been neutralized.”

The 32nd AAMDC, which is responsible for all U.S. Army air and missile defense in the region, “adapted and innovated to overcome advanced threats,” Rafferty added. “The THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense], the Patriot, and our counter-UAS systems are the envy of the world, and that’s due in no small part to some of the efforts of the organizations that are represented by the leaders in the front row here, but also by the contributions of many of our industry partners and industry teammates here.”

Though he didn’t mention how many interceptions were performed by the U.S. Navy’s ship-launched SM-3 and SM-6 missiles, or Air Force air-to-air missiles and rockets, Rafferty’s comments added insight into the extent of the U.S. military’s defense of the region during numerous Iranian missile and drone barrages. It represented just a part of a much larger regional effort involving several nations that came under Iranian attack.

In May, Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), testified before Congress that Epic Fury “validated, at full scale and in actual combat, a combined Middle East Air Defense (MEAD) network – a concept the region had exercised for years but never fully operationalized.”

“During OEF, for the first time in history, U.S. air defenders stood shoulder to shoulder with partner air defenders across national systems… Over the course of the operation, this integrated architecture intercepted over 6,000 one-way attack drones and more than 1,500 ballistic missiles aimed at U.S. forces, Israel, and our Arab partners.”

Cooper did not break down how many interceptions were carried out by each country, but the figures provided by Rafferty suggest that the Army was responsible for about 16% of all of them. CENTCOM declined our request for the numbers of interceptions carried out by the Navy and Air Force.

As a result of this intense air and missile defense activity, partner nations, minus Israel which uses its own systems, have had their missile stocks backfilled by the U.S. due to the massive consumption of interceptors. It’s also worth noting that it is common to use multiple interceptors against each target to increase kill probability, so one target often doesn’t mean one missile was used to shoot it down.

LIVE: Head of Central Command testifies before Senate committee on Iran war

As for the 12-Day War, Iran fired about 550 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel, according to the IDF. About 90% were intercepted by the U.S. and Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported at the time. While the Army engaged 125 Iranian missiles, the U.S. Navy played a large role in swatting down these threats as well. It is unclear just how many interceptions the Navy performed during that conflict, but former acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby told the Senate Appropriations Committee in June 2025 that the service fired interceptors at incoming Iranian threats “at an alarming rate.”

As we noted earlier in this story, we have been sounding the alarm about magazine depth for years, especially in regard to America’s air and missile defenses. In fact, we laid out in detail these exact concerns and how they would be a major issue in war with Iran just prior to the conflict starting in a feature you can read in full here.

The U.S. has burned through hundreds of THAAD and Patriot interceptors since a shaky ceasefire went into effect on April 8, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) latest assessment. CSIS was updating a previous analysis of munitions expenditures during Epic Fury that you can read more about here.

According to CSIS, the U.S. had about 2,300 Patriot interceptors in its inventories before Epic Fury, 1,030 by the time the ceasefire was agreed to, and between 759 and 827 as of July 27.

As for THAADs, there were 452 interceptors in the U.S. inventory before Epic Fury, between 232 and 262 on the date of the ceasefire, and between 234 and 278 as of July 27.

During the SMD panel, Rafferty addressed magazine depth concerns but did not provide any granularity about the number of interceptors used. The bottom line, he said, is that THAAD and Patriot munitions are just one part of an overall defense.

“I cannot add anything to the emphasis on magazine depth… or for the need for cheaper and wide-ranging mix of interceptors,” he explained. “I mean that couldn’t be made more loud and clear from the highest levels of our government. But I do want to highlight the need that interceptors alone won’t do it, right? We need more of a comprehensive missile defeat strategy that focuses on interceptors, equally so on non-kinetic effects, both electronic warfare and directed energy.”

“And the type of targeting C2 enabled by a data strategy, and a cross-domain solution that works that helps us take data from TS [top secret], move it down to secret, and even down to CUI [controlled unclassified information], that’ll enable us to use that data to make decisions to engage targets faster,” he continued. “That’s the kind of comprehensive missile defeat strategy that isn’t just about more interceptors. It’s about integrating other capabilities, non-kinetics, and also decision-making into that.”

For the moment, things have calmed between the U.S. and Iran, with no major attacks against each other for several weeks. Media reports have suggested that President Trump has shifted to economic, rather than military pressure against Iran in large measure over concerns about the ability to sustain a conflict with greatly diminished magazine depth.

Still, Trump has been unable to compel Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, pare its ballistic missile stocks or stop supporting proxies like the Houthis and Hezbollah. Given that, it remains possible the notoriously impatient president could resume hostilities at any time. So too could the Iranians, who have done it before.

Meanwhile, the heavy use of these expensive, hard-to-build, long-lead-time weapons raises additional questions about how the U.S. can defend itself from another major threat, and especially should a war break out with China. 

Rafferty didn’t bring up concerns about whether the supply of air defense munitions and general capacity was sufficient for a China fight, nor was he asked about it in the ensuing question and answer session. Still, he did imply that the U.S. Army’s air defenders were under significant stress battling Iran.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Many questions remain about the complex mission to rescue the crew of the U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle that came down over Iran in April of this year and what led to it. Now, the reported testimony of the Strike Eagle pilot involved describes a ‘jellyfish-like’ swarm of drones in the sky, moments before they ejected from the stricken jet.

According to a report from CNN, the pilot recounted seeing “multiple Iranian drones hovering in the air, moving as one, in a formation that resembled a jellyfish.” The report is based on statements from four unnamed sources said to be familiar with the matter.

Needless to say, the veracity of the report should be treated with caution, especially bearing in mind the highly dynamic and confused nature of the situation. However, CNN claims that the account was taken seriously enough to prompt debate within the U.S. intelligence community. It should also be noted that the testimony relates only to the pilot and not the Weapon Systems Officer (WSO).

The report suggests that, during a post-incident debriefing, the F-15E pilot told intelligence officials that they saw:

“Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs. Real alien shit.”

Those words are not from the pilot themselves, but are said to be from one of the sources familiar with the witness account.

Another source told CNN that the same pilot described seeing a “minefield of drones” in the air.

Again, provided these accounts are correct, we cannot say for sure that the pilot actually saw what they described. After all, this was during an extremely high-stress period, and the pilot also ended up with a concussion. Even the U.S. intelligence officials involved in the debrief reportedly disagreed on how to interpret what the F-15 pilot described, and whether the pilot could recount the incident clearly, according to CNN.

The same report also repeats the assertion that the pilot had previously been shot down in the same conflict, during a friendly-fire incident that left three Strike Eagles downed over Kuwait in March. The High Side, a publication on Substack, first reported this detail, citing unnamed current and former Air Force officials. CBS News also subsequently reported this, citing anonymous individuals familiar with the events.

As for the F-15E incident over Iran, you can read our analysis of what was previously revealed about what happened here.

While the exact cause of the loss of the F-15E hasn’t been revealed, NBC News previously quoted three unidentified officials who said the jet “was probably struck by a Chinese-made shoulder-launched missile” and that the engagement may have been supported by a “long-range early-warning radar that spots stealth aircraft,” which Iran received in the “early days” of the war. U.S. President Donald Trump also reportedly said that the Iranians used a shoulder-fired missile, and that “they got lucky.”

Furthermore, while the pilot was rescued within hours, the WSO hid out in a crevice as both rescuers and Iranians frantically searched for him. They were picked up around 50 hours after ejection, aided by a rescue mission involving hundreds of troops, scores of aircraft, and diversion operations over more than a half dozen different parts of Iran. The effort also saw the loss of a second aircraft, an A-10 attack jet in the air, as well as two MC-130J Commando II special operations cargo planes and several H-6 Little Bird special operations helicopters that were destroyed on the ground.

The most dramatic interpretation, that a drone swarm directly participated, even if by happenstance, in the shootdown of the Strike Eagle, cannot be entirely ruled out, but there is no publicly available evidence supporting it. There is the description of this formation being a “minefield,” as in something the F-15 could stumble into. This is an interesting note and it may just be how it was mentioned figuratively. At the same time, putting up some sort of a drone screen formation along a known route, especially if it is being used for low-level transits, or near a high-risk facility, could make some sense. Basically, the aircraft would fly into it and be destroyed if it hits a drone, the drones are detonated in close proximity to the aircraft or even if they are connected physically somehow and the aircraft hits the cables. This would match with the description, to a degree, and it would not require any sort of real swarming capability. This would be something of a new ‘barrage balloon’ concept that is more flexible and easier to deploy on demand. China is using balloons in a similar manner to protect key installations today. In addition, Iran certainly has employed its fair share of bizarre tactics and weapons concepts to that point that this doesn’t seem that implausible, but still, it is just a guess.

Returning to the new report, if the pilot really did see a ‘jellyfish-like’ group of Iranian drones that were truly swarming, that would point to previously unknown capabilities within that country, but this is technology that is certainly within the realm of credibility.

Swarms, in this context, are groups of vehicles or guided munitions that are interconnected via datalink and work cooperatively to maximize their combined abilities to accomplish an objective or set of objectives. It is important to note that a major role is played by the nature of a swarm’s computing and autonomy capabilities, and the supporting communications architecture. Swarms can range from ones offering basic cooperative capabilities to far more advanced and dynamic, advanced AI-driven ones. Swarms are not to be confused with a group of drones that are simply sent on a mission together, but have no true cooperative capabilities. These can be best viewed, at least in the aerial sense, as formations of drones or ‘flocks’ of drones that are basically preprogrammed, with tactical planning and large numbers providing an advantage, not the ability to react to external stimuli and make decisions as a team in real-time.

Regardless, based on two of its sources, CNN asserts that “initial reports indicated that it was possible the drone formation had in some way enabled Iran to shoot down the American jet.”

This would raise questions about what type of performance and configuration these drones had, including what altitude the drones were at when they were supposedly sighted, as well as the flight level of the Strike Eagle.

Previously, U.S. officials disclosed that Iran had made use of smaller drones in the hunt for the missing F-15E WSO, but there was no mention of any kind of drone swarms.

For China and Russia, to name just two nations, both of which have provided military assistance to Iran, drone swarming is very much an area of focus. Swarms have many uses, not just to overwhelm the enemy, but also to sense broad areas cooperatively and to work as a highly efficient group offering mixed capabilities that equate to a sum greater than their parts.

In the case of China, as we have been reporting on for years, the country has moved especially fast on drone swarming, working to evolve these capabilities on different scales for many years. China has repeatedly demonstrated swarms of loitering munitions, deployed from container launchers that can be mounted on light vehicles or helicopters, for example. The country also has worked to develop higher-end swarming capabilities using larger drones, as well as advanced unmanned combat air vehicles. This is on top of the country’s place as an absolute leader in low-end unmanned technologies, including massive coordinated drone swarms for commercial purposes.

中国电科陆空协同固定翼无人机“蜂群”系统

The potential of this kind of warfare has not been lost on the U.S. military either, which has been working on it for decades. These efforts date back many years, with the public disclosure of the Perdix having come nearly a decade ago now, and cooperative swarming trials have been carried out repeatedly in the open since then. These efforts have since become ‘mainstream’ as the drone revolution has taken hold of the defense industry. Some of these technologies are now being operationalized in a publicized manner. All this is on top of what is likely an extreme level of development in the classified realm.

Only last month, TWZ reported on how the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was looking into drones with a high degree of autonomous operation, as well as remotely-operated containerized systems to launch, recover, and otherwise support them. The end result would be a largely self-sustaining “autonomous constellation” capable of supporting networked swarms consisting of as many as 500 drones at once.

By now, swarming capabilities are a key emerging tenet of modern military drone development and are beginning to be demonstrated on the battlefield in Ukraine.

At this point, it is worth noting that Iran has already demonstrated “loitering” surface-to-air missiles, an unusual category of weapon that blurs the distinction between a kamikaze drone and a more traditional surface-to-air missile. As far as we know, Iran has not attempted to use these weapons in swarms, although having them operate in larger groups would clearly boost the probability of success.

There is also the possibility that what the F-15E pilot saw was some kind of previously unknown drone technology fielded by the U.S. or Israeli military, before the Strike Eagle came down. Clearly, Israel and the United States deployed certain systems in the conflict that had not been seen before, and both countries have the ability to field platforms with swarming capabilities. Releasing a group of drones that can hunt and even kill over the Iranian countryside, looking for targets of opportunity over large areas, like air defenses and standoff weapons launchers, is exactly the kind of concept that swarms were envisioned as being so capable at realizing.

Subsequently, while the rescue effort was underway, the U.S. military certainly was making use of drones in the vicinity. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, previously described how “A-10s and […] drones and other tactical aircraft were violently suppressing and engaging the enemy in a close-in gunfight to keep them away from the front-seater and allow the pickup force to get into the objective area.” 

The use of drones for suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses, as well as stand-in jamming of those systems, is a very real component of modern air warfare dating back decades. Israel was a pioneer in it, which you can read all about here. Those capabilities are far more advanced today, especially for long-range systems dedicated to those missions and for the emerging ‘launched effects’ segment of drone warfare. It’s hard to imagine that these proven capabilities were not put to some use over Iran during the war. The U.S. military even employed its own one-way attack munition, the LUCAS drone, with similar capabilities.

With all that being said, there is the possibility that the pilot experienced something else entirely, perhaps related to their concussion or another kind of phenomenon. Even a flock of birds or a group of balloons, the latter of which can be used as decoys to confuse enemy radar and bait fighter aircraft and other air defenses, could appear as a drone swarm, for example. Iran had every reason to use such cheap, but potentially effective tactics. While an experienced fighter pilot would normally be able to tell the difference between drones or birds, these were very much abnormal circumstances. Then there is the matter of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), which this could fall into, just for the reason that what was seen may be hard to identify. We don’t know what the description of the configurations of the drones was, or if any was provided, which could help narrow down the possibilities. Also, did the aircraft’s sensors detect these craft? We just don’t know.

For now, the reported drone sighting remains an intriguing but unverified element of a much larger story, many important details of which are still to emerge.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

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. President Donald Trump has also now said Iranian forces downed the attack helicopter, and promised a response. This is the first known instance of a drone boat being used to recover personnel as part of a search and rescue mission, and has major implications for these operations going forward. Readers can otherwise get up to speed on what is already known about this incident in our initial reporting here.

“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, valued at $392 million, for the production of Corsair USVs. The Corsair, which the manufacturer also calls an autonomous surface vessel (ASV), is a 24-foot-long drone boat with a speedboat-like design that 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.

The Corsair “picked them [the Apache crew] up and transported them to another location on the water where they were then hoisted up to a helicopter for further transport,” Capt. Hawkins, the CENTCOM spokesperson, added.

CENTCOM had already confirmed to TWZ and others that an unspecified USV found and rescued the two aircrew from the downed Apache. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the specific type of drone boat employed.

The Army aviators spent approximately two hours in the water before being recovered safely, according to a previous CENTCOM statement. As mentioned, President Donald Trump has also now separately said that Iranian forces were responsible for bringing down the Apache, and that a U.S. response will be forthcoming.

Since its establishment in 2021, the Navy’s Task Force 59 has been charged with helping expand the service’s operational use of uncrewed platforms, as well as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning-driven capabilities, across the Middle East. It has operated an array of different types of USVs, as well as uncrewed aerial systems, over the years.

How many Corsairs Task Force 59 has currently, as well as their exact configuration, is unclear. Pictures and videos that Saronic has released to date have shown Corsairs fitted out primarily for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, with a camera turret on top of a central mast-like frame. A commercial navigation radar, additional cameras to help provide extra situational awareness, and various other antennas have also been seen fitted to that frame. Saronic has talked about integrating other capabilities to enable additional mission sets, including launchers for loitering munitions, in the past.

Saronic also says Corsair has a high degree of autonomy, with the type having logged more than 100,000 nautical miles of total travel to date, including multi-day missions. The SUV is designed to be employed independently or in networked swarms, according to the company. Human operators are in the loop during these operations via datalink.

“Corsair can be given a mission, alone or as part of a collaborative swarm, and execute with minimal human interaction to deter or counter adversarial threats at a range of 1,000 nautical miles,” Saronic said in a press release back in 2024. “Employing redundant communications and passive perception capabilities, Corsair can autonomously identify, track, follow, and intercept targets in contested and communications denied environments.”

These are all capabilities well suited to the U.S. Navy’s immediate needs in the Middle East, especially in support of the current blockade of Iranian ports. Corsair would notably offer a lower-risk way to closely shadow vessels that might be attempting a run into or out of the area. Corsair’s ability to automatically spot and track objects of interest would have helped in finding and rescuing the downed Apache crew, too. It is worth noting here that automated target detection is also a key part of Corsair’s ability to safely navigate autonomously, day or night, especially in congested waterways, as seen in the video below.

Corsair’s overall performance in the Middle East could easily translate to further operational use of this USV by the Navy globally. The service has particularly significant demands for persistent maritime surveillance and reconnaissance capacity, as well as just general presence, across the broad expanses of the Pacific. One of the key benefits that USVs offer is the ability to provide additional distributed ‘mass’ at relatively low cost. This can help bolster the capabilities of crewed platforms they are networked together with or just ease the operational strain on those assets.

The Navy has now also clearly demonstrated how valuable USVs could be in future maritime search-and-rescue operations worldwide. This, in turn, underscores the benefits uncrewed platforms bring to these missions, especially in the face of growing anti-air and other threats.

As we already wrote today:

“As TWZ regularly highlights, search and rescue operations present inherent complexities and risks, especially when conducted in or near hostile territory. The F-15E rescue effort in Iran put a particular spotlight on the immense risks that combat search and rescue (CSAR) forces take, with helicopters and C-130 variants sent into areas where even a high-end fighter aircraft didn’t survive.”

“Open-water recoveries can present distinct additional challenges. There is always the possibility of the loss of additional assets and personnel in the process, no matter where a CSAR mission occurs.”

“The use of a Navy drone boat in the rescue overnight highlights a new dimension for maritime CSAR going forward. These uncrewed assets can be more readily pre-positioned in a distributed manner. For example, in the broad expanse of the Pacific, USVs could be forward-deployed at multiple points along certain flight paths for this exact purpose. USVs could offer other distinct advantages in certain scenarios where they might be able to get into areas where traditional assets cannot and without risking additional personnel. These realities extend well beyond the maritime domain, and we are only likely to see uncrewed platforms of all kinds increasingly taking part in rescue efforts, especially in denied areas. The U.S. military is coming to terms with just how vulnerable their CSAR assets are and the ranges that would be needed to access highly defended areas, especially during a peer fight. Using drones to execute personnel recovery is being viewed as one part of a larger set of solutions to this pressing problem.“

The additional detail we have now that the Corsair USV brought the downed aircraft to a territorial location, where they were then hoisted into a helicopter, is notable, too. This further shows how uncrewed platforms could be used as part of a distributed hub-and-spoke-style concept of operations for future rescue missions, which could increase flexibility and total area covered. USVs could be used to penetrate into especially high-threat areas, recover personnel, and then bring them to crewed assets at safer locations to the rear, as well.

“When it comes to search and rescue, you utilize the best asset that is the closest and the quickest, and that was the case in this instance,” CENTCOM’s Hawkins also told The Wall Street Journal today. “We’ve practiced this scenario in exercises, but not quite necessarily like this.”

Corsair’s now very public use in the Middle East could be a boon for Saronic when it comes to future sales opportunities with the U.S. military and foreign customers, as well. Corsair, by itself, has already been at least evaluated by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) under its Production-Ready, Inexpensive, Maritime Expeditionary (PRIME) effort. It was also a finalist in the Army’s xTechPacific 2025 innovation challenge.

Saronic has multiple larger USV offerings beyond Corsair, and the company just recently launched the first example of the largest type it has in development now, the Marauder. This drone boat is 180 feet long and is designed to be able to travel up to 4,100 nautical miles while carrying 150 metric tons of containerized payloads, or even further with a lighter load.

The Navy is already set to evaluate Marauder, as well as designs from six other companies, as part of the first round of prototyping under its latest Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) effort. This is part of a larger strategy the service rolled out in March to try to field more USVs and do so faster, as you can read more about here.

In the meantime, Saronic’s Corsair is already being employed operationally in the Middle East and demonstrating its ability to perform complex missions.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com