During Operation “Epic Fury” carried out since February 28 against Iran, the United States deployed the LUCAS, its first low-cost kamikaze drone, openly inspired by the Iranian Shahed. With the entry onto the scene of this new technology, the Americans are learning the lessons of the war in Ukraine with a disposable drone, aiming to saturate opposing defenses at a lower cost.

Published on: 03/03/2026 - 5:00 p.m. Modified on: 03/04/2026 - 4:53 p.m.

This is an irony that has not escaped arms specialists. During the American-Israeli operation "Epic Fury", the United States deployed for the first time a new model of explosive drone: the LUCAS, openly inspired by the Iranian Shahed-136.

The information was confirmed by the American Central Command (Centcom) in a press release published on

The copy of Shahed-136 is assumed. Produced by Tehran, the latter have been used extensively by Russia to strike urban centers in Ukraine since the start of the large-scale invasion of the country in 2022.

Read alsoFPV, terrestrial, interceptors... these drones which revolutionized the battlefield in Ukraine

The war between Russia and Ukraine has transformed the way the conflict is fought. Until now, Westerners had bet everything on high technology; the conflict in eastern Europe showed that mass production of low-cost devices mattered just as much.

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A mix to saturate defenses

“Originally, the Shahed was developed by the Iranians, because it made it possible to strike far and cheaply, while saturating the opposing defenses,” explains an expert on aeronautical issues contacted by France 24. “The refinement that we could see appearing in Ukraine is the 'high-low mix'. A mixture of these low-tech drones with ballistic and cruise missiles. All of this made it possible to saturate the opposing ground-air defenses to make get things through."

The American aircraft was named "LUCAS" for "Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System". Developed by the company Spektre Works, located in Arizona, it was the subject of ultra-rapid development during the year 2025, from the reverse engineering of a Shahed. Its first test only dates back to December 2025.

According to Centcom, these single-use drones were used for the first time on Saturday against air defense systems, drone and missile launch bases, as well as military bases in Iran.

According to the specialist media Defense and Security Monitor, the LUCAS and the Shahed are very similar visually, but the United States claims that the technical capabilities of their drone are superior. On the other hand, the range of these drones is smaller – around 650 km compared to 2,000 km for the Iranians – as is the explosive charge, twice as low as that of their model.

A low-cost drone at $35,000

LUCAS are produced by several suppliers and the design has been simplified as much as possible. The unit price today would be 35,000 dollars (30,200 euros), but the American army hopes to reduce it to 5,000 dollars. A trifle compared to the MQ_9 Reaper, whose estimated cost is around $20 to $40 million, but which is much more sophisticated and reusable.

"When we talk about the Americans' adversaries like Russia or China, we are faced with very rich and very integrated ground-to-air defenses. So to get past these defenses, you have to shoot a lot of things at the same time. And that, we can't do it only with advanced weapons, deciphers the arms expert. So, we supplement with small drones which saturate by offering the adversary many targets to deal with."

Also readWar in Ukraine: a Russian mega-attack of 2,000 kamikaze drones is “perfectly realistic”

The evolution also owes to other warlike theaters. At the end of 2023, the French frigate Languedoc was attacked in the Red Sea by the Houthis using Shahed drones. The French army responded by using Aster missiles: munitions costing 1 million euros, to neutralize a machine worth 30,000 dollars.

“The other aspect of saturation is also to force the adversary to fire. On the one hand, they reveal themselves. On the other, they fire their missiles. And anti-aircraft missiles are expensive,” recalls the expert. “And if we empty the stocks more than they fill, we find ourselves in the situation of Ukraine at the end of 2023: they had to reduce their pace of interception and adapted their model – intercepting things that don’t cost much with things that don’t cost much.”

The United States are not the only ones involved in the race for this technology: France has ordered the One Way Effector, “a sort of French Shahed” according to the company MBDA, presented at the 2025 Paris Air Show. It should be operational from 2027.

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