Iran’s Revolutionary Guards intercepted and captured an uncrewed submarine belonging to the United States military at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media identified the captured system as a Dive-LD, a large autonomous underwater vehicle manufactured by the California-based defense firm Anduril. The 19-foot submersible is designed for missions including mine countermeasures, seabed mapping, intelligence gathering, and infrastructure inspection.
Describing the capture, the Revolutionary Guards Navy stated that they had secured one of the most modern autonomous submarines of the US military, noting that the vessel was equipped with advanced technologies. In response, a Pentagon spokesperson stated that the underwater drone had malfunctioned more than a day prior while surveying regional waters. The military added that the defective system was an older model which neither collected sensitive data nor carried classified sonar or radar equipment.
Anduril confirmed the loss of the vessel while emphasizing the system’s design philosophy. A company representative explained that the Dive-LD is an attritable autonomous platform engineered specifically to operate in high-risk environments where the potential loss of the vehicle is factored into operations, according to Reuters.
The United States military continues to invest heavily in unmanned naval systems to survey vast ocean areas, conduct reconnaissance, and track adversary movements without risking personnel. The Dive-LD is capable of operating for up to ten days without returning to base, can dive to depths of up to 6,000 meters, and carries an estimated unit cost of approximately $2.5 million.
