@jolyonThe Dive-LD that Iran ended up with was never meant to come home. Palmer Luckey of Anduril put it plainly: the thing was built to be lost. "This particular vehicle has been swimming in CENTCOM for months, successfully operating in support of American forces for thousands of hours." Where it worked, people couldn't go. Capture was always on the table, by design. "I can't get into the details, but it provided significant value for months before capture." Then: "Rest in peace, little buddy." Attritable is the word for hardware like this, meaning it's cheap enough that losing one is acceptable. Iran still walks away with the hull. That matters because this isn't Tehran's first go at reverse-engineering American hardware. After 2011, its engineers copied the RQ-170 and flew what they built. The Dive-LD spent months mapping the seafloor before the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy got hold of it in the Strait of Hormuz. A replacement price tag doesn't cover what studying it is worth.

@jolyonThe Dive-LD that Iran ended up with was never meant to come home. Palmer Luckey of Anduril put it plainly: the thing was built to be lost. "This particular vehicle has been swimming in CENTCOM for months, successfully operating in support of American forces for thousands of hours." Where it worked, people couldn't go. Capture was always on the table, by design. "I can't get into the details, but it provided significant value for months before capture." Then: "Rest in peace, little buddy." Attritable is the word for hardware like this, meaning it's cheap enough that losing one is acceptable. Iran still walks away with the hull. That matters because this isn't Tehran's first go at reverse-engineering American hardware. After 2011, its engineers copied the RQ-170 and flew what they built. The Dive-LD spent months mapping the seafloor before the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy got hold of it in the Strait of Hormuz. A replacement price tag doesn't cover what studying it is worth.