What we know about US sea drone used in helicopter crew rescue mission

"In this mission it would have likely been controlled remotely by a person with a joystick to make sure they got to the exact location of the crew."

— Bryan Clark , Academic

"Although rescue isn't a core mission of the vessel, it was clearly good for a dirty, dangerous missions like this."

— Dr Stacie Pettyjohn , Academic

"They were then hoisted up to a helicopter for further transport."

— Captain Tim Hawkins , Other

"the surface drone that assisted in Monday night's rescue of the Apache crew off the coast of Oman was a US Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by US 5th Fleet's Task Force 59."

— Tim Hawkins , Executive

"there is an opportunity for us to be able to utilize this equipment and this piece of technology here that would help us in protecting that restricted area along the waterside."

— Lauren Cabral , Executive

"They were then hoisted up to a helicopter for further transport."

— Tim Hawkins , Executive

"The Corsair was used for the rescue mission because of 'proximity and capability factors'."

— Tim Hawkins , Executive

"So there is still a gap in ADF's [Australian Defence Force] inventory for a kind of high-speed surface drone."

— Marcus Hellyer , Academic

"In a case like this it's perfect, really, because you're not putting people at risk."

— Marcus Hellyer , Academic

"The surface drone that assisted in last night’s rescue of the Apache crew off the coast of Oman was a US Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by U.S. 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59."

— Tim Hawkins , Executive

"the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters and added the U.S. must respond to this attack."

— Donald Trump , Politician

"Looking ahead, we will continue to apply lessons learned as we increase our operational capabilities through ‘manned-unmanned teaming’ concepts."

— Adm. Brad Cooper , Executive