American media: US Lucas drone is a copy of Iranian Shahed

In a report, the American outlet The National Interest addressed US imitation of Iran’s Shahed-136 drone, writing that the low-cost Lucas drone—currently under development by the US Marine Corps—is an exact replica of Iran’s Shahed drone.

The report states that today, in many areas, the balance has shifted to the other side. This is particularly true in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, where both allied and adversarial countries—including China, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine—have invested their resources in innovation, while the United States has relied on its past achievements.

According to the report, one drone power has been more influential than all others: Iran, whose effective Shahed drones have come to dominate battlefields.

The National Interest wrote that the effectiveness of the Shahed drone is evident in its widespread use. Many of the world’s leading military powers are lining up to acquire these drones; Israel is concerned about them in its airspace, and—remarkably—Americans themselves have fallen in love with this Iranian system.

The US Navy’s low-cost unmanned combat attack system, Lucas, is now entering service. At first glance, nearly any pretense of originality or innovation on the part of the Americans disappears, as this drone is, quite literally, just a copy of the Shahed-136.

The report goes on to say that this indicates the US military is now “stealing technology” from Iran.

The US Navy is testing the new Lucas drone at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. American military planners hope that positive test results will lead to the rapid expansion of the Lucas drone program, with the drones ultimately being deployed in the field and used against mobile targets such as vehicles.

In addition, the Pentagon wants the system to be at least partially autonomous, allowing the drone to independently identify and strike targets.

As part of the Trump administration’s effort to streamline the Pentagon’s cumbersome procurement process for acquiring new weapons and platforms, the Lucas drone will be produced by multiple manufacturers and at large scale. Pentagon officials have likened this approach in developing the Lucas drone to the old Liberty ships that once filled the US fleet during World War II.

Lucas is being marketed to US defense planners due to its advanced technologies and relatively low cost.

The system has already proven itself and will undoubtedly become the next primary weapon of the US Marine Corps. In fact, if testing of these delta-wing drones proves as successful as it appears, they will likely be seen flying over battlefields in Europe, the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific, and possibly even Latin America.

The National Interest concluded that it is clear Iranian military equipment is not as unsophisticated as Washington would like ordinary Americans to believe. This raises the question of what other weapons Iran may possess that could be advanced and pose a real threat to US forces and their allies in the Middle East.