A Florida fisherman recently made headlines when his catch of the day turned out to be an American combat drone modeled after Iran’s infamous Shahed-136.
According to news reports, in late September, a crew from Hot Spots Charters, a Florida-based fishing charter company, pulled a U.S. Air Force LUCAS, or Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System, out of the drink not far from Eglin Air Force Base.
The LUCAS drone is an American copy of Iran’s Shahed-136 one-way attack drone. It was reverse-engineered by Arizona-based SpektreWorks, initially to serve as a target surrogate for American forces to practice shooting down. However, it was quickly repurposed into a similar one-way attack drone role for the U.S. military.
The LUCAS made its combat debut against Iran earlier this year.
An unnamed Air Force spokesperson reportedly acknowledged to The Warzone that they were indeed missing a drone, though they wouldn’t specify what type.
Charter captain Daniel Arsenault, as well as an aviation photographer who goes by the name Aquatic Charlie, posted about the catch on social media. They included pictures, which show the drone missing its nose section and the 215 CC carbureted piston engine, along with its propeller.
The LUCAS drone is 9.8 feet long (about three meters) and 8.2 feet (about 2.5 meters) wide; this makes it slightly shorter but with the same wingspan as the Shahed 136 it was based on.
Yet, despite a similar overall size and shape, with a maximum payload of 40 pounds and a maximum take-off weight of 180 pounds, the LUCAS is significantly lighter that the Shahed. In contrast, the Iranian drone can carry 110-pound payloads and often weighs in at more than 440 pounds on takeoff.
The difference in weight between the two drones also dictates fuel storage, and thus, range: the American-made LUCAS offering a publicly disclosed range of only a bit more than 500 miles, while the much heavier Shahed has been known to cover as much as 1,600 miles with smaller payloads.
The LUCAS can cruise at speeds of around 55 knots, or about 63 miles per hour, but can dash at speeds as high as 100 knots, or about 115 miles per hour, giving it comparable speeds to the Shahed.
The fished-up drone was not armed with any explosives.
Regardless, the drone seems to be back in government hands, with Hot Spots Charters later posting on Facebook, “The black suvs came and got their drone, all is good!”
Feature Image: The LUCAS drone fished up. (Photo by Aquatic Charlie)
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