The helicopter, believed to be an AH-64E Apache Guardian variant belonging to the U.S. Army, was on patrol above the strait’s waters at the time of the incident. The mission may have been linked to counter-drone operations, as Tehran was assessed to be capable of deploying UAVs to strike American military bases in the Persian Gulf region in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes on Iranian military facilities.
Western analysts suggest the drone responsible was likely a long-range strike UAV of the type most commonly used by Iran, such as the Shahed-136. However, experts note that such drones are not equipped with guidance systems capable of tracking and engaging a moving aerial target, nor can they maneuver sharply enough to do so even under remote control — pointing to the possibility that the shootdown was accidental rather than deliberate.
One plausible scenario is that the drone struck the Apache by chance, or that a crew error was involved — specifically, that the helicopter’s own 30mm cannon engaged a UAV flying close enough that fragments from the detonating warhead caused fatal damage to the Apache itself. Analysts also note it cannot be ruled out that a different, more capable type of Iranian drone was involved, as Tehran is known to field Shahed-family aircraft armed with man-portable air defense missile systems.
The Iranian side has put forward an alternative and, according to analysts, potentially more credible explanation for the incident. Tehran claims the helicopter was downed by a floating anti-aircraft trap — an unmanned surface vessel similar to those employed by Ukraine in the Black Sea for several years — which detected the Apache and engaged it with a Kowsar-222 anti-aircraft missile carrying a range of up to 20 kilometers.
This Iranian account does not exclude the involvement of an airborne drone, as the Apache may have been hunting a Shahed UAV at the very moment it was struck by the unmanned boat. The two scenarios — a drone hit and a missile from an unmanned vessel — are not mutually exclusive, and the precise sequence of events has not been independently confirmed.
Both members of the Apache’s crew survived after the aircraft went down into the water and were subsequently recovered by a U.S. Navy unmanned surface vessel. It remains unclear why the advanced onboard self-defense systems with which the AH-64E is equipped — assuming that was the variant involved — failed to protect the aircraft from the threat.
President Trump, responding to the downing of the helicopter, vowed to retaliate “with full force.” The incident occurred against the backdrop of broader military exchanges, during which the U.S. lost two MQ-9 Reaper drones across three waves of airstrikes, while Iran launched at least five ballistic missiles at American bases in Jordan and two more targeting the U.S. Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.
