Iranian hostage situation with Protectors and Firescouts?

[LoBlo]

Here's some food for thought. How would a USN LCS using Protector USVs and Firescout UAVs fair if it encountered the same situation the UK Navy encountered with Iranian patrols attempting to capture its sailors? Supposedly this type of situation is exactly what the LCS and its USVs/UAVs are designed for, but one has to wonder if it would had made any difference?

http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/fu...ector-usv.html


One has to admit that neither the Protector nor the FireScout will replace a human boarding party (it can't "board and search")... and that being the case, an LCS crew would encounter the same situation one could conclude. One could say that a FireScout overhead would have warned the boarding crew of the Iranians approach and would have provided time to escape or backup firepower... but then again, didn't the UK have a Helo airborne that was supposedly supposed to be serving that role as well?

I do see one advantage that the LCS might have had is that since it does have USVs and UAVs then they may have been able to perform more automated (round the clock) and aggressive patrols of the border and see the Iranian ships coming sooner.