06/09/2026
In its statement on Tuesday, Centcom said the two crew members had been rescued at 19:33 EDT (23:33 GMT) on Monday.
"Rescue efforts were led by US Naval Forces Central Command and the 82nd Airborne Division, with support from US Air Force and Navy units including US 5th Fleet's Task Force 59," the statement added.
The two US Army soldiers on the Apache had been patrolling waters off the coast of Oman when the crash happened. They were rescued at about 19:30 EST on Monday, "within approximately two hours" of their AH-64 Apache going down.
A spokesman for Centcom told the BBC that the crew members were rescued by an uncrewed surface drone that was operated by Task Force 59 - a Bahrain-based unit that launched in 2024 to focusing on "the operational deployment of unmanned systems teamed with manned operators to bolster maritime security across the Middle East region".
