Iran is running a deliberate campaign to capture U.S. military drones in the Strait of Hormuz and study their surveillance technology, defense experts say — a pattern underscored by a Sept. 14 clash in which U.S. forces destroyed two Iranian small boats attempting to seize an American surface drone, just days after Tehran seized a U.S. underwater drone on Sept. 8.
Why it matters: A captured drone, even a malfunctioning one, gives Iran a chance to examine sensors, cameras and defensive systems it can't otherwise access — and Tehran has a track record of doing exactly that. Iran's 2011 capture of a CIA RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone led to Iranian knockoff drone designs that are still part of its arsenal today.
Driving the news:
Sept. 14: Iranian small boats attempted to seize a U.S. unmanned surface vessel (USV) in the Strait of Hormuz; U.S. forces destroyed two of the boats, and CENTCOM said the drone “remains under U.S. operational control.”
Sept. 8: Iran's Revolutionary Guard seized a Dive-LD autonomous underwater drone made by U.S. defense firm Anduril Industries after it lost propulsion and went dead in the water in the Gulf.
Defense-industry sources describe the two incidents as “coordinated, deliberate drone capture missions” rather than opportunistic seizures.
By the numbers:
2011: the last time Iran captured a U.S. drone before this year — the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone, which Tehran says it reverse-engineered into its own drone models.
2: known Iranian attempts to seize U.S. drones in the Strait of Hormuz region in a single week (Sept. 8 and Sept. 14).
2: Iranian small boats destroyed by U.S. forces during the Sept. 14 seizure attempt.
What they're saying: “Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a U.S. unmanned surface vessel…these are very coordinated, absolutely deliberate drone capture missions,” Draganfly CEO Cameron Chell said. “If Iran captures a drone, it could give them an immediate tactical advantage…it gives insight into the theater of operations.”
The other side: The Pentagon has pushed back on the idea that Tehran gained anything sensitive. After the Sept. 8 seizure, CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the underwater drone had malfunctioned and “did not have sensitive information or equipment onboard,” a more measured account than the alarm raised by outside defense analysts over the pattern of seizure attempts.
The bottom line: Whether or not Tehran has actually extracted useful intelligence, two seizure attempts in a single week suggest Iran now sees captured U.S. drones as a low-cost way to probe American military technology in a theater where a full shooting war remains too costly for both sides.
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