Iran has seized a US submarine drone near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. According to Iranian state media, the captured vessel is the ‘Dive-LD,’ a large-scale autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) manufactured by the California-based defense firm Anduril.
According to the company, this 19-foot (5.8-meter) long submarine can be used for tasks such as detecting and neutralizing sea mines, mapping the seabed, gathering intelligence, and inspecting underwater infrastructure like cables and pipelines.
In a statement published by Iranian state media, the Revolutionary Guards’ navy said, “We have detained one of the US ‘terrorist’ forces’ most modern, intelligent, and unmanned submarines at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. This submersible is equipped with state-of-the-art technology.”
However, responding to Iran’s claim, a Pentagon spokesperson stated that an underwater drone had malfunctioned more than a day earlier.
The Pentagon spokesperson said, “It was monitoring regional waters in support of ongoing military operations. The malfunctioning drone was an older model; it lacked the capability to gather sensitive information and carried no radar equipment.”
Anduril also confirmed the loss of one of its vehicles but downplayed the significance of the incident.
An Anduril spokesperson said, “The Dive-LD is an ‘attritable’ autonomous system; it was designed specifically for operation in hazardous environments where the loss of the vehicle is an expected possibility.”
The US military is investing heavily in unmanned underwater and surface vessels to conduct surveillance over vast maritime areas, gather intelligence, and detect adversary warships and submarines. The goal is to carry out these tasks at a relatively low cost without putting sailors at risk. According to Anduril’s website, the Dive-LD can operate underwater for up to 10 days without returning to base. It is designed to dive to depths of up to 6,000 meters (19,700 feet). A 2024 report by the US military news outlet DefenseScoop stated that each Dive-LD costs approximately $2.5 million.
