US reverse-engineers captured Iranian drone, deploys new version to Middle East

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Scripps News

Posted 4:16 PM, Feb 27, 2026 and last updated 5:34 PM, Feb 27, 2026


The U.S. military has activated what officials describe as America’s first dedicated one-way attack drone squadron in the Middle East, marking a shift toward lower-cost unmanned weapons systems.

The unit, known as Task Force Scorpion, will operate the LUKAS — short for Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System — a one-way attack drone developed under the direction of U.S. Special Operations Command. The drone’s design was informed by analysis of Iran’s Shahed drones. U.S. personnel studied a captured system to better understand its construction and capabilities before developing their own version.

The LUKAS drone is designed to operate in GPS-denied environments and can be deployed in swarms. It is manufactured in Arizona at an estimated cost of about $35,000 per unit, which is significantly less expensive than many traditional precision-guided munitions.

The system was successfully test-launched in December 2025 from the deck of the USS Santa Barbara in the American Sea. The vessel, homeported in San Diego, is currently deployed to the Middle East as part of a U.S. show of force in the region as tensions with Iran remain high.

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/military/us-reverse-engineers-captured-iranian-drone-deploys-new-version-to-middle-east

[wcmagumba]

1. So the US and its allies are dependent on using copied Iranian tech to develop drones...

Seems weird that we don't already have equal or better technology...

[BumRushDaShow]

2. We have been in some kind of ongoing war

for the past 25 years and they have shot down our drones (and if anything, Russia has done so quite a bit early on in the Ukraine War before Ukraine did their own unique mods), and reversed-engineered those too.

But another, somewhat underreported story, is a war that has broken out between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan has generally been plucking at India, but this time, we're talking something totally different, and Pakistan has nukes.

[WestMichRad]

3. "...was successfully test-launched... in the American Sea."

Where the heck is that? Has TSF renamed the oceans? Or is Scripps news another government-controlled media?

[Layzeebeaver]

4. I think this is what they are referring to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Mediterranean_Sea

Although… you never know these days.

EDIT: Looks like this “test launch” occurred out closer to the eastern med…. So the reporting source made a typo/error

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Apparently it IS an oceanographical/geological/geographical term for the Gulf and adjacent- "American Mediterranean Sea"

A senior editor at Science mag summed up how I feel too!

Link to tweet

Michael Roston
@michaelroston
·
Follow
Finding out there is such a thing as the "American Mediterranean Sea" at this stage of my life is as disconcerting as learning that despite my Chicago born-and-raised childhood, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are technically the same body of water.
Image
12:55 PM · Feb 25, 2026

I think most of us were taught about the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, etc.

It is technically a large body of water (but not as large as an ocean) between North and South America.

[WestMichRad]

6. Well, I've learned something new today

Thanks to Lazee and Bum. Whether it proves to be a useful fact remains to be seen.