We must recount what happened in the war between the United States and Iran to understand a little of it. military technologies used on the battlefield: bombers B‑2 Spiritfighter planes F‑35 o F/A‑18 and missiles Tomahawk.
Unfortunately, the panorama seems to resemble the war between Ukraine and Russia, it could even be a more critical situation after the torpedo attack Mark‑48 that brought down the largest ship since Second World War.
On previous occasions, kamikaze drones have already been seen that are lethal to any target, but the new thing from the US plans to confront the known ones Shahed-131, 136 y 238 from Iran. LUCAS is the new tool for tactics with loitering ammunition the Donald Trump.
LUCAS: reverse engineering derived directly from the Iranian Shahed-136
Low‑Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) or, in Spanish, Low Cost Unmanned Combat Strike Systemis the United States’ new single-use attack drone, developed by the technology expert company UAVSpectrumWorks.
It has been created after the pressure of dangerous Iranian attacks with models such as the Shahed-136. Basically, it was reverse engineered to obtain a similar design with features that can cope or be as effective, although including American sensor improvements and advanced manufacturing.
During the Operation Epic Fury of the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic, were deployed for the first time to carry out multiple airstrikes.
The “smart long persistence munitions” tactic has been successful and the structure of this military device adapts to the dense defense network in the Persian Gulf.
Among its characteristics is the length of 3 meters with wingspan of 2.4 meters and weight of almost 32 kg empty. Low-cost materials are used for its manufacture due to the objective of mass production together with the operation of «single-use loitering ammunition.»
As to its 215 cc engineit is a combustion type with a rear propeller and the explosive charge is approximately 18 kg of great destructive powerbeing used for a land launch or from ships with pneumatic boosters or assisted rockets.
Thanks to their precision range with autonomous flight, high resistance to interference and modular payloads, they make direct hits without risking pilots or resources, while increasing versatility in high mobility engagements, he explains. Interesting Engineering.
Its autonomy is about six hours at a speed of 63 mph cruise and peaks of 115 mph for definitive impacts, with a range of up to 403 miles.
Armed with features that make it resistant to electronic interventions and highly adaptable to the conflict environment, it has everything necessary to face the Hesa Shahed 136 o Grant-2.
Before LUCASSpektreWorks developed the drone FLM‑136but it was missing some things to become a concern for the Iranian army and now they have achieved it with this innovative design.