The drones have been used in various missions, including spying on Iranian warships and aircraft around the Strait of Hormuz. In October, a drone fired a live munition at a target simulating hostile forces during an exercise, marking the first time a drone had fired a lethal munition in the Middle East. Task Force 59's drones are not completely autonomous, with a human always remaining in the loop to make critical decisions. As the threat environment in the Middle East changes, so do the needs of the task force, which is consistently learning to bring operational value to the warfighter.
Key takeaways:
- The US Navy uses a variety of drones, under Task Force 59, to patrol Middle Eastern waters, with the drones being used for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and lethal operations when necessary.
- Task Force 59, established in September 2021, has conducted at least 34 bilateral and multilateral exercises, and operated its drones at sea for more than 60,000 hours across Middle Eastern waterways.
- The drones are used daily in Fifth Fleet's area of operations, which spans 2.5 million square miles of water from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, and includes critical chokepoints for merchant vessels.
- While unmanned and AI systems are used to monitor their environment and gather important data, a human will always remain in the loop to make critical decisions, according to Capt. Colin Corridan, the Task Force 59 commodore.