After Iran downed a US Apache helicopter off the Oman coast, a company with links to an Indian-origin man came to the rescue of American security forces even as West Asia was plunged into a fresh round of violence.
Iranian military shot down the US Army’s advanced attack chopper on Monday while patrolling regional waters, and two crew members were rescued by American forces in the US Navy’s drone boat.
This special boat was developed by a Texas-based company, Saronic Technologies, co-founded by Indian-American Vibhav Altekar.
Vibhav Altekar is a co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) at Saronic Technologies, where he focuses on autonomous systems and software architecture.
He has studied electrical engineering at the University of California, Davis, according to his profile on the company’s website.
The website states that Altekar has spent a large part of his career driving advancements in US Department of Defense technology.
He also has special experience in drone subs, after leading engineering efforts for the Royal Australian Navy’s Ghost Shark drone submarine. Altekar has previously worked as a software engineer at Twitter, Juicero, and 8VC.
Saronic Technologies was founded in 2022 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. It builds unmanned surface vehicles that enable maritime security.
The company was co-founded by Dino Mavrookas, who is the chief executive officer and has 11 years of experience as a US Navy SEAL.
What we know about Iran’s attack and US rescue?
The US Army’s AH-64 Apache chopper crashed at around 3:30 am (local time), which caused the pilot and co-pilot to spend two hours in the sea close to the Strait of Hormuz amid the pre-dawn, Captain Tim Hawkins of the US military’s Central Command said.
The helicopter was patrolling the strategic waterway when it was attacked by Iranian military. The two crew members were rescued when their location was tracked down by Altekar’s Saronic Technologies-developed drone boat, which was unmanned and measuring 24 feet in length and resembled a speedboat, UK-based The Independent reported.
Captain Hawkins said the drone boat used in the rescue of the crew members was the US Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by US 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59. According to Saronic Technologies’ website, Corsair is an Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) which is capable of carrying over 450 kgs.
