The US Navy trusted Saronic's autonomous Corsair vessel to rescue downed American pilots in the Straits of Hormuz, proving that autonomous platforms can rescue people without putting additional soldiers in harm's way.
Saronic co-founder Dino Mavrikis recounts how the Navy deployed their autonomous Corsair vessel to rescue downed American pilots in the contested Straits of Hormuz, calling it a milestone that proves autonomous platforms can extract personnel without risking additional lives. ✦ AI generated
Dino Mavrikis · All-In Podcast · 2026-08-06 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 1:21
“I got to start there, Dino. Tell us about the mission. Tell us what happened. This is the first time an autonomous uh ship has ever rescued uh folks in the field. and then we'll get back into your history and everything. But I think like we got to start off with this story because it's incredible.”
What we were able to demonstrate through this partnership with the Navy, like for us is the Navy actually trusted us in this moment. Lives are on the line. We're going to send this autonomous platform to go and rescue these folks. This is not a patrol. This is not maritime domain awareness. This is the highest stakes of the highest stakes. There's downed American pilots in the Straits of Hormuz. like Corsair, which you actually see right over my right shoulder, which is our 24 foot fully autonomous speedboat for th for those that that don't know. Um, he said, 'We're going to use that to rescue the pilots.' And that's that's actually like a milestone moment for the country. And I can tell you I'll tell you a personal story firstand kind of what this means, but you know this like leaving people behind in the US military just it's not a thing. Like the US military does not do it, right? Like I was in the Navy Seal teams for 11 years. From 2004 to 2015, uh my last five years were on SEAL team six. I personally experienced 2005 there were four SEALs trapped on a mountain side in Afghanistan and the helicopter got sh got shot down while going to rescue them. So what we were able to prove in this moment was that you can go and rescue people without putting additional soldiers in harm's way. That's that's the impact of what this had. That's what it means for the country and for our company.
verbatim transcript · starts at 1:21
1:20field. and then we'll get back into your history and everything. But I think like we got to start off with this story because it's incredible. >> It it it's just a huge story and I look I can't get into too many specifics of the operation and the mission for for obvious reasons. But um before we get into what it means for the country, what it means for our company, I mean without
1:38saying the most important thing is that those two pilots came home safely regardless of how they got there. Right now, what we were able to demonstrate through this partnership with the Navy, like for us is the Navy actually trusted us in this moment. Lives are on the line. We're going to send this autonomous platform to go and rescue these folks. This is not a patrol. This is not maritime domain awareness. This
2:02is the highest stakes of the highest stakes. There's downed American pilots in the Straits of Hormuz. like Corsair, which you actually see right over my right shoulder, which is our 24 foot fully autonomous speedboat for th for those that that don't know. Um, he said, "We're going to use that to rescue the pilots." And that's that's actually like a milestone moment for the country. And I can tell you I'll tell you a personal
2:26story firstand kind of what this means, but you know this like leaving people behind in the US military just it's not a thing. Like the US military does not do it, right? Like I was in the Navy Seal teams for 11 years. From 2004 to 2015, uh my last five years were on SEAL team six. I personally experienced 2005 there were four SEALs trapped on a mountain
2:51side in Afghanistan and the helicopter got sh got shot down while going to rescue them. So what we were able to prove in this moment was that you can go and rescue people without putting additional soldiers in harm's way. That's that's the impact of what this had. That's what it means for the country and for our company. It was just an extremely proud moment where the Navy
3:16trusted us in this high stakes environment. >> Absolutely incredible. And obviously thank you for your service. I and I know you can't get into too many details, but I've been reading all about it and I got to wonder when when these two pilots, did they know that this was an autonomous ship and the ship comes rolling up and they're like, somebody sent them a message, hey, you're going
3:35to get picked up by the autonomous ship. Grab the side of it, climb on board. Like, what's the protocol for the autonomous ship picking up two folks? Are they swimming out to it? Well, I I just got to get a little color on this before it becomes a movie. >> I mean, it's the first time that it that it happened, right? And when a ship when a boat pulls up to you and there's
- ·US Navy deployed Saronic's autonomous Corsair in the Straits of Hormuz
- ·Mission: rescue downed American pilots at highest possible stakes
- ·Corsair is a 24-foot fully autonomous speedboat
- ·Marked the first time autonomous platform was trusted for personnel extraction
- ·Founder's personal experience: 4 SEALs trapped in Afghanistan (2005)
- ·Rescue helicopter was shot down, putting additional soldiers in harm's way
- ·Autonomous platform eliminates the need to risk more personnel
- ·"You can rescue people without putting additional soldiers in harm's way"