The US Central Command (CENTCOM), on Sunday, confirmed that it is giving Iran a taste of its own medicine as it said its Task Force Scorpion Strike, for the first time in history, is using one-way attack drones, which were reverse-engineered from a captured Iranian drone, in combat, during Operation Epic Fury.
Task Force Scorpion Strike (TFSS) is a CENTCOM unit that was launched in December 2025 to deploy low-cost one-way-attack drones in the Middle East.
These kamikaze drones, or Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones, which were used against Iran, are based on the Shahed-136 long-range delta-wing drone, designed and manufactured by Iran’s state-owned corporation HESA in association with Shahed Aviation Industries.
Iran has a long history of producing unlicensed, reverse-engineered versions of US weapons systems, including the Toophan ATGM, which is based on the US BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile, and the Shahed-171 Simorgh drone, which is derived from the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth UAV in 2011, to boost its military might. The use of LUCAS by the US against Iran is being perceived as poetic justice of sorts, for Tehran's proliferation of unlicensed copies of US weapons.
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"These low-cost drones, modelled after Iran's Shahed drones, are now delivering American-made retribution," CENTCOM confirmed in a tweet.
Although reverse-engineered from the Shahed-136, LUCAS drones, which nearly cost $35,000 per unit,—much cheaper than conventional cruise missiles—have an extensive range and are designed to operate autonomously. These drones can be launched with different mechanisms, to include catapults, rocket-assisted takeoff, and mobile ground and vehicle systems.
“We obtained an Iranian Shahed, examined it, and replicated it. We are working with several US companies in the innovation sector. The LUCAS drone is the product of these efforts. It essentially follows the Shahed design,” a US official was earlier quoted as saying.
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The LUCAS programme engages up to 20 vendors and features a design that enables multiple manufacturers to simultaneously produce both airframes and warheads for the drones.
