A 'drone-killer' buggy chained to the deck of the USS Boxer is believed to be behind the attack which brought down an Iranian drone.

The buggy uses highly sensitive radar to detect small incoming targets and then deploys signal blocking technology to sever the link between the drone and its control tower, causing it to fall from the sky.

If the signal-jammer fails, then the buggy's radar technology can be used to direct conventional missiles towards the same target to finish it off.

A 'drone-killer' buggy equipped with highly sensitive radar and signal jamming technology that is chained to the deck of the USS Boxer (front right) was behind the attack on an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz

The buggy uses its signal jammer to break the link between the drone and its control tower, causing it to crash. If that fails, it can direct the Boxer's missile systems to destroy the target

The USS Boxer (pictured July 17) was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf on Thursday when the attack took place

Pictures of the Boxer taken on July 17 as it made its way towards the Strait of Hormuz show the system - officially known as the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System - on the flight deck.

The system is comprised of two parts - the RADA RPS-42 radar system, and the CM202A sensor turret with infrared video cameras.

The radar can detect targets ranging from small commercially available drones up to bombers and passenger jets, at heights ranging from 30ft to 30,000ft.

The cameras - which are capable of tracking an object moving at very high speeds - can then be used to verify the radar signal.

A Modi signal jammer then directs high-powered electromagnetic signals at the target, disrupting radio signals between it and its control tower, causing it to crash.

The radar sensors (large discs facing sideways) can detect very small aircraft flying as low as 30ft and as high as 30,000ft while the infrared camera (on top) can track very fast moving objects to verify the radar images

President Trump said on Thursday that the Boxer was behind an attack which destroyed a 'provocative and hostile' Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz.

The Pentagon later said that the attack was made using electronic warfare.

Iran has denied that any of its drones were brought down and suggested that the US might have brought down one of its own craft by mistake.

The Strait of Hurmuz is a strategic bottleneck through which a fifth of the world's daily oil supply passes, and which sits partially in Iranian waters.

Iran's military recently shot down a U.S. drone that it said was flying in Iranian airspace, firing a strike with a surface-to-air missile.

Donald Trump announced the Boxer had destroyed an Iranian drone Thursday in what the Pentagon later said was an electronic warfare attack

Iran has denied that any of its drone were destroyed, with deputy defence minister Seyed Araghchi even suggesting Washington brought down one of its own craft by mistake

President Trump called off a planned airstrike at the last moment, saying later that retaliating would have killed approximately 150 people on the ground.

The increased use of drones by Iran and its allies for surveillance and attacks across the Middle East is raising alarms in Washington, Reuters reported this week.

The U.S. believes Iran-linked militias in Iraq have recently increased their surveillance of American troops and bases in the country by using off-the-shelf, commercially available drones.

The disclosure comes at a time of heightened tensions with Iran and underscores the many ways in which Tehran and the forces it backs are increasingly relying on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in places like Yemen, Syria, the Strait of Hormuz and Iraq.

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, and then to the open ocean; about one-fifth the world's oil supply is shipped through it

Beyond surveillance, Iranian drones can drop munitions and even carry out 'a kamikaze flight where they load it up with explosives and fly it into something', according to a U.S. official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Iran now flies two or three drones over Gulf waters every day, the U.S. official estimated, making it a core part of Tehran's effort to monitor the Strait of Hormuz.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have accused Iran of carrying out attacks against six oil tankers near the Strait in the past two months, a claim Tehran has denied.

'We have seen an uptick in drone activity in Iraq near our bases and facilities,' the official said. 'Certainly the drones that we have seen are more of the commercial off-the-shelf variant. So they're obviously a deniable type UAV-activity in Iraq.'