It's a loss of aircraft worth more than $200 million in what is becoming the most dramatic cost to the Pentagon of the military campaign against the group.
The boatswain’s mate, who grew up in Egypt, was awarded for his gutsy role in responding to a pirate attack on a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
Earlier this spring, the Navy unit launched a handful of unmanned vessels from Aqaba, Jordan, into the Red Sea with a broad-edged surveillance mission.