US, UK conduct drone drill in Persian Gulf after Iran seizures

Dubai, October 7

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The US navy held a joint drone drill with the United Kingdom on Friday in the Persian Gulf, testing the same unmanned surveillance ships that Iran twice has seized in recent months in the West Asia.

Nuke talks stalled

• Iran has seized unmanned surveillance ships in Persian Gulf twice in recent months
• The drone drill comes as tensions between the US and Iran on the seas remain high amid stalled negotiations over its tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as protests sweep the Islamic Republic

The exercise comes as the US navy separately told commercial shippers in the wider West Asia that it would continue using drones in the region and warned against interfering with their operations.

The drone drill — and the American pledge to keep sailing them — also comes as tensions between the US and Iran on the seas remain high amid stalled negotiations over its tattered nuclear deal with world powers and as protests sweep the Islamic Republic.

Friday’s drill involved two American and two British warships in the Persian Gulf, as well as three Saildrone Explorers, said Cmdr Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the navy’s West Asia-based 5th Fleet.

The drones searched for a target on the seas, then sent the still images its cameras captured back to both the warships and the 5th Fleet’s command centre in the island kingdom of Bahrain. There, an artificial intelligence system worked through the photos.

The 5th Fleet launched its unmanned Task Force 59 last year. Drones used by the navy include ultra-endurance aerial surveillance drones, surface ships like the Sea Hawk and the Sea Hunter and smaller underwater drones that resemble torpedoes.

But of particular interest for the navy has been the Saildrone Explorer, a commercially available drone that can stay at sea for long periods of time. That’s crucial for a region that has some 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) of coastline from the Suez Canal, down the Red Sea to the Gulf of Oman, the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf.

It’s a vast territory that stretches the reach of the navy and its allies and has seen a series of attacks amid the atomic accord’s collapse. It also remains crucial to global shipping and energy supplies, as a fifth of all oil traded passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state-run media did not acknowledge the drill Friday. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. — AP