Meet Indian-Origin Man Behind Drone Boat That Rescued US Pilots From Hormuz

A US Navy drone boat, which was used to rescue the pilot and co-pilot of an Apache helicopter that was shot down by Iranian forces near the Strait of Hormuz, was developed by a Texas-based company co-founded by Indian-American Vibhav Altekar. The rescue mission was a first of its kind, where the US military used an autonomous surface vessel, remotely piloted by a human operator, to recover personnel at sea.

The US Armed Forces have been using the drone boat Corsair, developed by Saronic Technologies, for quite some time. The 24-foot-long Corsair runs on diesel fuel and can travel at speeds of up to 35 knots and has a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles. It is reportedly powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and can carry a load of up to 1,000 pounds.

The boat is part of the US Navy's Task Force 59 -- which oversees uncrewed vessels and other drones powered by AI -- under the Pentagon's push to expand unmanned vehicles alongside traditional assets. 

About The Company

As per the LinkedIn profile of Saronic Technologies, it has a USD 392 million production contract with the US Navy for autonomous surface vessels. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company was founded in September 2022 by Dino Mavrookas, who was a member of the Navy SEALs for 11 years, and three others, including Altekar. The other co-founders are Doug Lambert and Rob Lehman.

About Vibhav Altekar

Altekar, who is the chief technology officer with Saronic, has studied electrical engineering at the University of California. According to his profile on the company's website, Altekar drives the development of the company's autonomous systems and software architecture.

The website says that Altekar leads Forward Deployed Engineering, Product, and Special Programs as well as Software, working with cross-disciplinary teams spanning perception, navigation, machine learning, command and control, and systems integration.

Altekar is a highly accomplished perception engineer with expertise in the field of autonomous systems and maritime technology. He has spent a large part of his career in industry, driving advancements in US Department of Defence technology. 

As one of the earliest engineers at Anduril, he led engineering efforts across multiple programmes, including the Royal Australian Navy's Ghost Shark drone submarine.