Cheap Iranian drone downed $25 million US Army helicopter—maybe by chance
Cheap Iranian drone downed $25 million US Army helicopter—maybe by chance
低成本伊朗无人机击落价值 2500 万美元的美国陆军直升机——或许纯属巧合
A US Army helicopter gunship was apparently struck by an Iranian Shahed drone before going down near the Strait of Hormuz—but it’s unclear whether the one-way attack drone was deliberately aimed or achieved more of a lucky accidental strike. 一架美国陆军武装直升机在霍尔木兹海峡附近坠毁前，显然遭到了一架伊朗“见证者”（Shahed）无人机的撞击。但目前尚不清楚这架自杀式无人机是有意瞄准，还是仅仅是一次幸运的意外撞击。
Axios correspondent Barak Ravid first reported an unnamed US government official’s comments that an Iranian drone had hit the US Army AH-64 Apache helicopter before the latter went down on June 8. The New York Times later confirmed that reporting through more anonymous US officials, including one official who said US military investigators were still evaluating whether the Iranian drone strike on the helicopter was intentional or accidental. Axios 通讯员巴拉克·拉维德（Barak Ravid）率先援引一位未具名的美国政府官员的话报道称，6 月 8 日，一架伊朗无人机在美军 AH-64“阿帕奇”直升机坠毁前击中了它。《纽约时报》随后通过更多匿名美国官员证实了这一报道，其中一名官员表示，美军调查人员仍在评估这次伊朗无人机对直升机的撞击是有意为之还是意外事故。
Iran has fired thousands of such Shahed drones against a wide range of military and civilian targets in the Gulf region since February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel began the war by jointly attacking Iran with a barrage of bombs and missiles. But Shahed drones have mainly struck stationary targets such as Amazon data centers and energy facilities, sometimes hitting slow-moving commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. 自 2026 年 2 月 28 日美国和以色列联合发动大规模轰炸和导弹袭击、开启对伊战争以来，伊朗已向海湾地区的各类军事和民用目标发射了数千架此类“见证者”无人机。但这些无人机主要打击的是亚马逊数据中心和能源设施等固定目标，有时也会击中霍尔木兹海峡内航行缓慢的商船。
The basic models of Iranian Shahed drones rely on GPS satellite guidance and preprogrammed coordinates to strike stationary targets from long range and are not usually designed to track and strike moving targets, said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, DC, in an interview with The New York Times. But he suggested that Iran may have received newer Russian-modified Shahed drones that can be remotely operated to strike targets in motion. 华盛顿特区智库战略与国际研究中心（CSIS）高级顾问马克·坎西安（Mark Cancian）在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示，伊朗“见证者”无人机的基本型号依赖 GPS 卫星导航和预设坐标进行远程打击，通常并非为追踪和打击移动目标而设计。但他推测，伊朗可能已经获得了经过俄罗斯改进的新型无人机，能够通过远程操控打击移动目标。
Whatever the case, the result is that an Iranian drone that usually costs about $35,000 managed to take down a US Army helicopter with a price tag of $25 million. The only silver lining for the US military was its successful rescue of both helicopter crew members from the water due to the unprecedented use of a drone boat. 无论情况如何，结果是：一架成本通常仅约 3.5 万美元的伊朗无人机，成功击落了一架价值 2500 万美元的美国陆军直升机。对美军而言，唯一的慰藉是由于史无前例地使用了无人艇，成功从水中救出了两名直升机机组人员。
The growing tally of US military aircraft losses
美军飞机损失数量不断增加
This represents the first US Army Apache helicopter to go down during the conflict—and apparently the first such helicopter to be taken out by a drone. The United Arab Emirates and Israel had been using their own US-supplied Apache helicopters to hunt and shoot down Iranian Shahed drones. But Iran had previously succeeded in shooting down an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet and an A-10 Thunderbolt ground-attack aircraft on April 5 and April 6, respectively, using ground-launched missiles. 这是冲突中首架坠毁的美国陆军“阿帕奇”直升机，显然也是首架被无人机击落的此类直升机。阿拉伯联合酋长国和以色列此前一直使用美方提供的“阿帕奇”直升机来搜寻并击落伊朗的“见证者”无人机。但伊朗此前已分别于 4 月 5 日和 4 月 6 日利用地对空导弹成功击落了一架 F-15E“攻击鹰”战斗机和一架 A-10“雷电”攻击机。
All crew members were rescued, though the US military had to mount a risky combat search-and-rescue operation to retrieve the F-15 fighter jet’s weapon systems officer from the Zagros Mountains in Iran. Iran has also shot down dozens of US MQ-9 Reaper drones used for surveillance that can each cost more than $30 million. 所有机组人员均获救，尽管美军不得不发起了一次危险的战斗搜救行动，才将 F-15 战斗机的武器系统官从伊朗境内的扎格罗斯山脉中救出。伊朗还击落了数十架用于监视的美国 MQ-9“死神”无人机，每架造价超过 3000 万美元。
Other US military aircraft have sustained damage during combat operations over Iran or while sitting on the ground at air bases targeted by Iranian missile and drone attacks, according to a tally compiled by the Congressional Research Service on May 13. Furthermore, six aircrew died after their KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft crashed on March 12 following a collision with another tanker aircraft. 根据国会研究服务处 5 月 13 日汇总的数据，其他美军飞机在伊朗上空的作战行动中，或在遭到伊朗导弹和无人机袭击的空军基地地面上受损。此外，3 月 12 日，一架 KC-135“同温层加油机”在与另一架加油机相撞后坠毁，导致 6 名机组人员丧生。
The US military was initially tight-lipped about how the Army Apache helicopter went down. But, in a social media post on June 9, President Donald Trump became the first to publicly blame Iran for shooting down the Apache helicopter, while also warning that “the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.” US Central Command, the US military combat command responsible for Middle East operations, followed up by launching what its press release described as “self-defense strikes against Iran, June 9, at the Commander in Chief’s direction in response to yesterday’s downing of a US Army Apache helicopter.” 美军起初对陆军“阿帕奇”直升机坠毁的原因守口如瓶。但在 6 月 9 日的一篇社交媒体帖子中，唐纳德·特朗普总统率先公开指责伊朗击落了这架“阿帕奇”直升机，并警告称“美国必须对此次袭击做出必要的回应”。负责中东行动的美军作战指挥部——美国中央司令部随后发布新闻稿，称“在总司令的指示下，于 6 月 9 日对伊朗发动了自卫打击，以回应昨天美国陆军‘阿帕奇’直升机的坠毁事件”。
The latest flashpoint
最新的冲突爆发点
Trump was initially inclined to shrug off the Apache helicopter’s downing after the pilots were rescued, according to The Wall Street Journal. But the president apparently changed his mind during a White House briefing when both Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine “recommended military action” and shared more details about the Iranian Shahed drone striking the US helicopter. 据《华尔街日报》报道，在飞行员获救后，特朗普起初倾向于对“阿帕奇”直升机被击落一事不予理会。但在白宫的一次简报会上，当国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯（Pete Hegseth）和参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩（Dan Caine）将军“建议采取军事行动”并分享了更多关于伊朗“见证者”无人机撞击美军直升机的细节后，总统显然改变了主意。
The strikes from US fighter jets targeted Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the US Central Command press release. But Iran’s state broadcaster claimed the US military strikes also damaged water tanks and cut off the water supply for at least 20,000 people in Hormozgan province. 根据美国中央司令部的新闻稿，美军战斗机的打击目标是霍尔木兹海峡附近的伊朗防空系统、地面控制站和监视雷达站。但伊朗国家广播公司声称，美军的袭击还损坏了水箱，切断了霍尔木兹甘省至少 2 万人的供水。
Iran also retaliated by launching yet another round of Iranian missile and drone attacks against Gulf countries such as Bahrain and Kuwait, along with Jordan, according to The New York Times. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian paramilitary force, said it had targeted US bases in the region, including the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain, while claiming to shoot down yet another US MQ-9 Reaper drone. 据《纽约时报》报道，伊朗还进行了报复，对巴林、科威特以及约旦等海湾国家发动了新一轮导弹和无人机袭击。伊朗准军事部队伊斯兰革命卫队表示，他们已瞄准了该地区的美国基地，包括位于巴林的美国第五舰队基地，并声称又击落了一架美国 MQ-9“死神”无人机。
The latest tit-for-tat strikes threaten to completely shatter any lingering illusion of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran that supposedly began on April 8. The ceasefire period has been punctuated by intermittent fighting and dueling blockades in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane choked off by the conflict. 最新的一轮针锋相对的打击，威胁要彻底粉碎美伊之间自 4 月 8 日起所谓的停火协议所存留的任何幻想。在这段停火期间，霍尔木兹海峡及其周边地区一直伴随着间歇性的战斗和相互封锁，这条至关重要的航运通道已被冲突所扼杀。