A striking technological full circle has emerged from the ongoing US-Iran conflict, with American forces now deploying a combat drone derived directly from an Iranian design that was captured and reverse-engineered.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Admiral Brad Cooper confirmed the development with unusual candour. “LUCAS… indispensable. This was an original Iranian drone design. We captured it, pulled the guts out, sent it back to America, put a little ‘Made in America’ on it, brought it back here, and we’re shooting it at the Iranians,” Cooper said.
At the heart of this development is LUCAS the Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System a new American kamikaze drone that bears a close resemblance to Iran’s Shahed-136 loitering munition. The result, analysts say, is a full-blown copycat drone war, where rival powers systematically capture, study, and replicate each other’s unmanned aircraft.
How the US Reverse-Engineered Iran’s Shahed Drone
The Shahed-136 is among the most widely recognised loitering munitions of recent years. Unveiled by Iran in 2021, the low-cost, one-way attack drone gained global attention after Russia deployed it extensively against Ukrainian infrastructure.
That same concept now appears to be shaping American drone development. According to Admiral Cooper, US forces captured an Iranian drone, transported it to the United States for detailed analysis and redesign, and ultimately deployed the resulting system LUCAS in combat against Iranian targets during Operation Epic Fury.
LUCAS was formally showcased in July 2025, when US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth walked through the Pentagon’s inner courtyard presenting equipment from more than a dozen companies competing for new defence contracts. Among them was Arizona-based SpektreWorks, the manufacturer behind the drone.
Drone specialists told Reuters that the aircraft displays clear design similarities to Iran’s Shahed-series drones. Its triangular flying-wing layout, pusher propeller configuration, and low-cost structure suggest a deliberate effort to replicate the attributes that made the Iranian drone so battlefield-effective.
Defence analysts cited by Reuters believe the US approach reflects lessons absorbed from the war in Ukraine, where inexpensive one-way drones were used to saturate air defences and strike targets at a fraction of the cost of conventional cruise missiles.
How Iran Copied American and Israeli Drones First
The Shahed-136 itself is not an entirely original design. Defence analysts say it shares conceptual roots with Israel’s Harpy loitering munition one of the earliest dedicated anti-radar drones, developed in the 1990s. The Harpy proved broadly influential; analysts cited by Reuters note that similar designs have since been replicated by several countries, including China and Taiwan. Iran’s Shahed programme appears to have built on this foundation while adapting it for long-range strike missions.
Iran’s own history of reverse engineering goes back further still. In December 2011, Tehran announced it had captured a US stealth reconnaissance drone the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel which had been operated by the CIA from Afghanistan. The aircraft either crashed or was brought down inside Iranian territory. Iranian authorities publicly displayed the recovered drone and declared their intention to copy it.
The RQ-170 was considered one of the most sophisticated surveillance drones in the American arsenal at the time. Iranian officials subsequently claimed to have produced their own versions the Shahed-171 Simorgh and the Saegheh unmanned aerial vehicle both featuring a flying-wing configuration visually similar to the original American aircraft. AP reported in 2016 that Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency stated the Saegheh, developed by the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, was modelled on the captured US drone.
The RQ-170 was not the only American drone Iran claimed to have seized. Tehran also said it had recovered a ScanEagle surveillance drone manufactured by Boeing after it allegedly entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf. Iranian officials claimed they were copying that design as well and putting their own version into service.
Cheap Drones Reshape Modern Warfare
Admiral Cooper’s public remarks mark a significant moment: years after Iran examined and replicated American drone technology, the United States has now reportedly done the same in return. His comments suggest reverse engineering has become an accepted feature not an embarrassment of the modern drone competition.
The broader strategic shift is equally significant. Rather than relying solely on costly precision weapons or crewed aircraft, militaries are increasingly deploying swarms of low-cost unmanned systems. The Shahed-136 became a symbol of this transformation when Russia used it in large numbers against Ukrainian infrastructure. Despite its relative simplicity, the drone’s low price point and long range enabled it to overwhelm sophisticated air defence networks.
Analysts say LUCAS follows the same logic mass-produced, inexpensive loitering munitions that can strike targets without depleting stocks of expensive missiles.
According to Reuters, the Pentagon has been actively sourcing such systems from private manufacturers in recent years, aiming to build a category of weapons that can be produced quickly and fielded in large numbers during high-intensity conflicts.
The layered lineage of these drones from Israeli concept, to Iranian adaptation, to Russian deployment, to American replication illustrates how unmanned weapons technology increasingly spreads through observation and reverse engineering rather than purely domestic innovation. Each capture feeds the next iteration.
(With inputs from agencies)
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