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Topic: Air Warfare Blog Brand: The Buzz Region: Americas Tags: Drones, Iran, Shahed-136, United States, and US Marine Corps America Stole Iran’s Shahed Drone—and Is Now Copying It December 20, 2025 By: Brandon J. Weichert
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The Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone, now under development by the US Marine Corps, is a carbon copy of the Shahed drone.
The United States has long prided itself on being the most technologically advanced nation in the world. We innovate. Other states imitate.
Today, in many fields, the shoe is on the other foot. This is especially true in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, where both allied and adversary nations—China, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine—have poured resources into innovations while the United States has rested on its laurels. And one drone power has been more influential than any other: Iran, whose cheap and effective Shahed kamikaze drones have come to dominate the battlefields in Ukraine and other ongoing conflicts.
The effectiveness of the Shahed drone is apparent in its widespread adoption. Many of the world’s top military powers are lining up to purchase the drones. Russia has become reliant on them in Ukraine. Israel has come to fret over them in their airspace. Venezuela has allowed Iran to build numerous factories for them to be produced in their territory. And in a strange way, the Americans, too, have fallen in love with this Iranian system.
No, they didn’t purchase it nor did they allow for a factory to be built in the United States to produce these systems. Instead, Uncle Sam captured a Shahed drone and reverse-engineered it.
Iran Stole Drone Technology from America First
To be fair, the base of the Iranian drone arsenal was also pilfered from the United States. In December 2011, during the Obama administration, Iran’s cyberwarfare unit hijacked an American RQ-170 drone and brought it down safely inside Iranian airspace. (Whether the drone was in Iranian airspace, or in western Afghanistan, is a continuing dispute.) The Iranians completely reverse-engineered the American system, and it became the basis of early Shahed models.
From the initial boost the captured RQ-170 in 2011 gave the Iranian drone program, Tehran has, much to its credit, innovated an entirely new set of drone models—including the Shahed-136—that are now outstripping the systems the Americans are producing or developing.
In Turn, the Americans Ripped Off Iran’s Shahed-136 Drone
Enter the US Marine Corps’ Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS). At first glance, one can see that almost any pretense of originality or innovation on the part of the Americans is gone. The drone is literally just a clone of the Shahed-136.
Of course, one might argue that turnabout is fair play—and the theft is appropriate payback for the 2011 theft of America’s RQ-170 by Iran. Nevertheless, it is telling that the US military is now pilfering technology from Iran, a nation we were led to believe is hopelessly backward. If that is true, why are we taking anything from them?
The US Marine Corps has been testing the new LUCAS drone at the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. US defense planners are hopeful that the positive results from these tests will lead to a rapid scaling of the LUCAS drone. These drones will eventually be deployed in the field and will be used against moving targets, such as vehicles.
What’s more, the Pentagon wants this system to be at least partly autonomous, wherein the drone will identify and attack targets on its own.
As part of the Trump administration’s attempt to streamline the Pentagon’s otherwise sclerotic acquisition process for new weapons and platforms, the LUCAS drone will be built by multiple manufacturers and at scale. Pentagon leaders have likened this approach to the LUCAS drone development to that of the old Liberty ships that once filled the US fleet during World War II.
LUCAS is being sold to American defense planners on the grounds of both advanced technologies paired with a relatively low-price tag. At just around $35,000 per LUCAS unit, if it can perform even half of what the Pentagon wants, it could be the game-changing system that everyone in DC thinks it will be.
America Should Take Iran’s Military Threat Seriously
This system is already proving out, and will undoubtedly become the next major weapon of the US Marines. Indeed, it will likely be seen flying over the battlefields of Europe, the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific, and possibly even in Latin America if the testing of these knockoffs of delta-wing configured drones is as successful as they appear to be.
But make no mistake. The Americans are now pirating Iranian military technology. That alone should make your hair stand up.
Clearly, Iranian military gear is not quite as backward as Washington would have ordinary Americans believe. It makes one wonder what other weapons the Iranians have that might be advanced and pose a real threat to US and allied forces in the Mideast.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Recently, Weichert became the host of The National Security Hour on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. Weichert hosts a companion book talk series on Rumble entitled “National Security Talk.” He is also a contributor at Popular Mechanics and has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, and the Asia Times. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock / Anelo.
The post America Stole Iran’s Shahed Drone—and Is Now Copying It appeared first on The National Interest.
Источник: nationalinterest.org