Navy launches Mideast drone task force amid Iran tensions
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Navy’s Mideast-based 5th
Fleet said Wednesday it will launch a new task force that incorporates
airborne, sailing and underwater drones after years of maritime attacks linked
to ongoing tensions with Iran.
Navy officials declined to identify which systems they would
introduce from their headquarters on the island nation of Bahrain in the
Persian Gulf. However, they promised the coming months would see the drones
stretch their capabilities across a region of chokepoints crucial to both
global energy supplies and worldwide shipping.
“We want to put more systems out in the maritime domain
above, on and below the sea,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the 5th
Fleet. “We want more eyes on what’s happening out there.”
The 5th Fleet includes the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the
narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil passes. It also
stretches as far as the Red Sea reaches near the Suez Canal, the waterway in
Egypt linking the Mideast to the Mediterranean, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
off Yemen.
The systems being used by the 5th Fleet’s new Task Force 59
will include some of those involved in an April test led by the Navy’s Pacific
Fleet. Drones used in that exercise included ultra-endurance aerial
surveillance drones, surface ships the Sea Hawk and the Sea Hunter and smaller
underwater drones that resemble torpedoes.
The 5th Fleet includes shallow water areas, salty waters and
temperatures in the summertime that can go above 45 degrees Celsius (113
degrees Fahrenheit) with high humidity. That can prove rough for crewed
vessels, let alone those running remotely.
“I think that environment really suits us well to experiment
and move faster,” Cooper said. “And our belief is if the new systems can work
here, they can probably work anywhere else and can scale them across other
fleets.”
It also represents a region that has seen a series of at-sea
attacks in recent years. Off Yemen, bomb-laden drone boats and mines set adrift
by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have damaged vessels amid that country’s yearslong
war. Near the United Arab Emirates and the Strait of Hormuz, oil tankers have
been seized by Iranian forces.
Suspicious explosions also have struck vessels in the
region, ranging from tankers owned by Western firms, ships tied to Israel and
Iranian vessels. Those attacks have become part of a wider shadow war playing
out across the region in the wake of then-President Donald Trump’s 2018
decision to unilaterally withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Iran even shot down an American drone amid the tensions.
While President Joe Biden has said he’s willing to re-enter
the deal, negotiations in Vienna have stalled as Iran now has a new hard-line
president. That leaves open the possibility of further attacks by Iran — as
well as by Israel, which has been suspected in incidents targeting Iranian
shipping and its nuclear program.
Cooper acknowledged the tensions in his remarks to
journalists Wednesday, but declined to go into specifics.
“We’re very aware of Iran’s posture and we’ll be prepared to
deal with that appropriately,” the vice admiral said. “I’m going to leave it at
that.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately
respond to a request for comment on the new Navy task force. However, it
operates its own drone fleet and has published video in the past of flyovers of
American aircraft carriers in the region. The U.S. military also has said
fragments left by an attack in July off Oman that killed two people on an
Israeli-linked ship corresponded to Iranian military drones.
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