Michael C. Horowitz and Lauren A. Kahn
When the United States launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, it marked the combat debut of the U.S. military’s newest drone, the Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System. U.S. Central Command confirmed that the new LUCAS drones were used in the strikes and has said more of them “remain ready for employment” in Iran. The great irony, however, is that the LUCAS drone is based on Iran’s own low-cost one-way attack drone, the Shahed-136. In May 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump publicly praised the Iranian drones as cheap to produce, as well as “very good … and fast and deadly.” And when the Pentagon released the LUCAS in December, astute observers were quick to notice its similarities to the Shahed-136.
The idea that the United States, the world’s preeminent military power, would copy Iranian technology would have seemed fantastical just a few years ago. And yet, the Shahed-136, after being sold to Russia for use against Ukraine, was captured and studied by the U.S. military, improved on and produced by a small company in Arizona, and is now being used against Iranian targets. For its part, Tehran has unleashed a wave of Shahed-136 drones across the Middle East as part of its response to Washington’s Operation Epic Fury. The drones have struck buildings in Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, and even the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia. Although the size of Tehran’s remaining stockpile of drones is unclear, their sweeping deployment has become a critical element of the Iranian strategy for retaliation and proves that the character of war has changed.
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