Image: from Navy Times X @NavyTimes Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones positioned in U.S. Central Command. (DOD)
TEHRAN / WASHINGTON — In a move military analysts are calling a watershed moment in modern warfare, the United States military confirmed on Saturday that it has used long-range kamikaze drones in combat for the first time. The deployment took place during “Operation Epic Fury,” a massive joint U.S.-Israeli strike campaign targeting Iranian military infrastructure.
The weapon, known as the LUCAS (Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System), is a reverse-engineered American clone of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136. By using the very technology pioneered by its adversary, Washington has effectively “flipped the script” on Tehran.
The Rise of the “American Shahed”
The LUCAS drone is produced by Arizona-based startup SpektreWorks. Measuring roughly 10 feet long with an 8-foot wingspan, the delta-wing aircraft is designed for one-way “suicide” missions. Unlike the high-priced MQ-9 Reaper drones that have defined U.S. counterterrorism for decades, the LUCAS is expendable, costing approximately $35,000 per unit, a fraction of the $1 million-plus price tag of a Tomahawk cruise missile.
“Costing approximately $35,000 per platform, LUCAS is a low-cost, scalable system that provides cutting-edge capabilities at a fraction of the cost of traditional long-range U.S. systems,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, told The War Zone.
LUCAS: Scaling the Drone War https://t.co/a62Tt0EybE pic.twitter.com/nYndIzBEl6
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Task Force Scorpion Strike
The mission was managed by Task Force Scorpion Strike (TFSS), an elite unit established in late 2025 under the directive of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The task force was created specifically to integrate “attritable” (expendable) systems into the U.S. arsenal, treating drones more like “bullets” than major weapon systems.
During the Saturday morning strikes, TFSS launched waves of LUCAS drones from ground-based mobile launchers. These systems utilized autonomous AI flight controls and swarm coordination to overwhelm Iranian air defenses, striking IRGC command centers, missile launch sites, and nuclear research facilities.
A New Era of Attrition
Military experts suggest the use of LUCAS represents a shift in U.S. strategy toward “mass over complexity.” By launching large numbers of inexpensive drones, the U.S. forces the enemy to exhaust expensive interceptor missiles on cheap targets.
“The drone system has an extensive range and the ability to operate beyond line of sight,” CENTCOM officials stated. “The swarming capabilities, combined with Starlink-enabled networking, allow for advanced cooperative tactics and dynamic targeting while keeping humans in the loop.”
While similar drones were reportedly tested during “Operation Absolute Resolve” in Venezuela earlier this year, the strikes on Iran mark the first officially acknowledged large-scale combat employment of the system. As the smoke clears over Tehran, the successful debut of the LUCAS drone signals that the era of low-cost, high-volume autonomous warfare has arrived.