During Operation Epic Fury, the US used the LUCAS drone for the first time to hit Revolutionary Guard installations; this during the war against Iran and the conflict that has broken out in the Middle East.
It should be noted that the name of this unmanned aircraft is the acronym for Low‑cost Unmanned Combat Attack System. In practice, it is a long-range munition designed to take off, fly to the target and be destroyed on impact.
In short, It is a single use dronewhich means that it does not return to base except in some very specific reconnaissance configurations. Its configuration is reminiscent of the Iranian Shahed‑136 used in the war in Ukraine.
A low-cost kamikaze drone made in USA
LUCAS has a combustion engine with a propeller at the rear, a simple fuselage and little visible electronics. It is launched from catapults, rocket-assisted ramps or mobile platforms, without the need for tracks.
Your flight is programmed before takeoff with a route, height and impact point and, from there, The drone navigates autonomously beyond line of sight, combining satellite and inertial navigation to stay on course even if GPS fails.
This simplicity is key, since it allows several LUCAS drones to be mass-produced, distributed to ground units and, in recent tests, also deployed from ships such as the USS Santa Barbara.
According to Defenseonethis drone is not intended to pursue soldiers, but rather critical infrastructures. And their objective is command centers, radars, anti-aircraft batteries, missile launchers, ammunition depots or air bases.
The combustion engine is more efficient and quieter than that of a Shahed, which complicates its detection and lengthens its operational range. It has advanced autopilot, inertial navigation, satellite receiver and data links that allow it to be integrated into command and control networks.
A modular architecture is mounted on the fuselage capable of housing different payloads: from an explosive warhead comparable in size to that of a light missile to intelligence sensors or electronic warfare modules.
Although the basic concept is kamikaze, some mission profiles allow the drone to be recovered after reconnaissance tasks. That makes LUCAS in something more versatile than the Iranian Shahed, which is conceived as single-use ammunition.
Shahed‑136 tactical clone
The LUCAS design reproduces the Iranian philosophy of a cheap delta-wing kamikaze drone, designed to travel long distances and saturate defenses when launched in salvos. A development that starts from captured and analyzed Shahed units.
From reverse engineering, a platform with the same silhouette and the same tactical role has been createdbut rebuilt with an engine, electronics and structure adapted to American standards.
The result is a drone that, visually, can be confused with its Iranian «cousin», but that integrates Western components, better fuel management, lower noise and a design to add sensors or change loads depending on the mission.
In practice, LUCAS is the «American Shahed», because it occupies the same segment of low-cost loitering munitions and is called upon to play a similar role in US doctrine.
Why has the United States decided to use LUCAS in the war against Iran? The answer mixes cost and politics. Each unit costs around $35,000, a figure well below cruise missiles like the Tomahawk.which move in the order of millions per shot.
This allows dozens or even hundreds of drones to be launched in the same attack package without emptying the strategic arsenal. The idea is to learn from conflicts like Ukraine or Gaza, where the number of drones in the air matters as much as individual precision.
Instead of relying only on very expensive and scarce weapons, swarms of platforms are used that saturate radars, force defenses to expend interceptors and open holes for subsequent attacks with missiles and manned aircraft.
It is worth mentioning that in the Epic Fury mission, LUCAS’s role has been precisely that. Drones were used to hit Iranian command centers, air defense systems and missile sites.
By attacking in salvos, they forced the defense to disperse its attention and ammunition, facilitating the subsequent entry of American and Israeli cruise missiles and fighters against more protected targets. All this without exposing pilots to the first waves of anti-aircraft fire.
The United States and Iran have suffered years of tensions, attacks on ships in the Gulf, actions by militias backed by Tehran against US bases in Iraq and Syria, sabotage and cyber operations.
For a long time, both countries have preferred indirect confrontation, through allies and intermediary groups. But operation Epic Fury marks a turning point.
The United States goes from responding only to specific attacks to directly hitting Iranian military infrastructure. Tehran, for its part, responds with Shahed launches and missiles against US bases in the region.
In that climb, LUCAS is a sign of where this type of war is moving: more automation, more prominence of cheap drones and a growing weight of disposable platforms in the strategy of both sides.