Apache going down near Oman a sign of air combat evolution, analysts warn

With any air left in lungs likely heaving from adrenaline, the crew members may have blown bubbles, feeling which way the small pockets of air traveled against their face. Submerged in darkness and feeling around a cockpit becoming a watery tomb, the direction of the bubbles may have told the disoriented helicopter crew the direction of the only thing that mattered: up. An attack helicopter went down off the coast of Oman this month after a Shahed drone engaged with the aircraft. Though the Pentagon said that its two crew members were rescued by an unnamed surface vessel hours later, public details surrounding the incident remain sparse. The military’s investigation may ultimately determine what happened between the Apache and drone, but for experts and analysts, the event is a snapshot into how warfare is changing: attack helicopters, once the apex predators of the battlefield, must learn to navigate an ecosystem crowded with unmanned systems that are smaller, cheaper and deadlier than ever before. The interaction itself seemed an anomaly. Iranian Shahed-136 drones are typically programmed to fly to set coordinates before launch, which makes them adept at striking targets that do not move, according to Kelly Campa, Middle East Team Lead at the Institute for the Study of War. “A Shahed hitting a helicopter is highly unusual,” Campa said, noting that Russia has increasingly used remotely guided Shahed variants capable of striking moving targets, like trains. Campa added that Russia, however, generally has not used those variants to attack aircraft without additional modifications like small missiles, and Iran has not publicly demonstrated similar capabilities. The unusual nature of the incident — and the scarcity of publicly available information — has made drawing definitive conclusions difficult. Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said several explanations for the Apache’s downing are plausible. The helicopter may have collided with the drone whil