U.S. military’s Anduril Dive-LD drone was ‘dead in the water’ before Iran nabbed it
The American military’s underwater drone that Iran claimed to capture near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday was an older Anduril Dive-LD model that was “defective and malfunctioning well before” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced its so-called seizure, according to a source at U.S. Central Command.
“The drone was essentially dead in the water for more than a day,” Centcom spokesperson Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins told DefenseScoop.
Hawkins discussed the command’s early recap of the incident, after news reports surfaced from Iran’s state media depicting an Anduril-branded unmanned undersea vessel that was allegedly caught by the IRGC Navy in waters around the entrance to the highly-contested strait.
Iran has disrupted global transports in the area since late February, largely in response to the Trump administration’s Operation Epic Fury and associated warfare around the Middle East.
Beyond conducting major drone attacks and other weapon strikes against Iranian targets, Centcom has confirmed its deployments of “exquisite technology” in recent months to clear out underwater mines, conduct surveillance and establish safer pathways through the strait.
“An underwater drone operated by U.S. forces malfunctioned more than a day ago,” Hawkins told DefenseScoop Tuesday. “It was surveying regional waters in support of ongoing operations.”
Notably, he said the “defective drone was an older model” under Anduril’s Dive-LD product line.
Though Hawkins didn’t elaborate on its defectiveness, the Centcom spokesperson emphasized that the UUV “neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment.”
DefenseScoop reported in 2024 that Anduril’s Dive-LD drones were among capabilities that the Pentagon moved to rapidly mass produce and deploy through its Replicator initiative.
Potentially priced at that time around $2.5 million each, the autonomous undersea vessels were then said to be purpose-built for multi-week missions conducting battlespace intelligence and reconnaissance, mine counter-warfare, anti-submarine warfare and seafloor mapping operations.
The 3-ton, torpedo-shaped maritime drones are also currently meant to be equipped with “precision placement” features to support payload navigations, according to Anduril’s website.
Spokespersons from the company did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
“U.S. operations in area waters continue,” Hawkins told DefenseScoop.
DefenseScoop reporter Drew Lawrence contributed.
