US President Donald Trump has said that he asked American companies to manufacture drones similar to Iranian drones, specifically the Shahid-136, in May this year, adding that “I want to see something like that.”
“Two weeks later, they came to me with a drone that cost $41 million! I said, ‘that’s not what I was talking about. Forty-one million?! I’m talking about something that costs $35,000 to $40,000, so you can fly them by the thousands,” Trump said.
“Iran makes a good drone… and they make them for 35 to 40 thousand dollars… And they’re very good too – fast and deadly.”
Just seven months later, last week, the United States deployed its own version of the Shahed drone in its Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) kamikaze drones that are set to be operated by Task Force Scorpion Strike (TFSS).
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that “this new task force sets the conditions for using innovation as a deterrent,” in the words of Brad Cooper, CENTCOM Commander. “Equipping our skilled warfighters faster with cutting-edge drone capabilities showcases US military innovation and strength, which deters bad actors.”
LUCAS is developed by the Arizona-based defence contractor SpektreWorks and is an attack variant of the FLM 136 target drone, which was specifically designed to simulate Iranian drones during US air-defence training exercises, helping units practise shooting them down with machine guns, missiles, or even fighter aircraft.
The arrival of these new American drones marks a significant strategic shift for the United States. Despite their simplicity, such drones have proven to be one of the few Iranian tools that have achieved notable battlefield success in Ukraine.
Their exceptional ability to relentlessly drain Ukrainian air defences on a daily basis at a high cost to Kyiv has provided Russia with substantial savings and a high production rate that had allowed it to launch them with ease, forcing Ukraine to respond or face more strikes.
Politically, the drones are seen as an Iranian instrument to strengthen ties with Moscow in exchange for military assistance or political backing. At the same time, Iran has transferred this drone to its various militias across the Middle East, ensuring its continued low-cost yet highly effective impact against Israel and the United States.
It is worth noting the simplicity of the components used in these drones, which Iran sources through multiple intermediaries. Most of the parts are commonly found in household electronics, with the exception of certain elements such as the propulsion engine and targeting camera, which are manufactured locally.
This know-how has also been transferred to Russia. Meanwhile, Iran’s militias either produce similar drones themselves, as in the case of Hizbullah in Lebanon, or limit their efforts to assembling the imported parts locally before deployment, as seen with the Houthis in Yemen.
For the United States, this category of drones had not been employed before. Instead, its use of tactical short-range loitering munitions was limited to systems such as the Switchblade, and even only in some circumstances. The main reason for the reluctance to use drones lies in America’s overwhelming air superiority, backed by virtually unlimited logistical support and remarkable speed of resupply.
Yet, this reliance comes at a steep cost, particularly when operations depend entirely on precision-guided munitions and advanced aircraft such as the F-35. Even in missions intercepting Iranian drones, as occurred this year to defend Israeli airspace, the price of a single missile fired by a fighter jet often exceeds the cost of an Iranian drone tenfold.
Moreover, such missions expose US aircrews to significant risks when operating deep inside hostile territory, where adversaries possess advanced air-defence systems capable of downing American aircraft.
Last week, the US network Fox News reported that “Lt Colonel William ‘Skate’ Parks, an Air Force F-16 commander has been awarded the Silver Star, one of the nation’s highest honours for valor in combat” during a ceremony in the Pentagon.
“At the time, Parks was the commander of the 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and served as mission commander for a 21-aircraft strike package on March 27,” the Pentagon said.
It added that Parks simultaneously led four F-16 Fighting Falcons tasked with Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD), a mission responsible for drawing enemy fire and clearing a path for the rest of the force.
Enemy forces fired a “barrage of precisely targeted” missiles and anti-aircraft fire at the F-16s, triggering a 15-minute sequence of violent high-G manoeuvres and countermeasures with at least one missile detonating only a few metres from Parks’ jet, it said.
Although weapons systems used by Iran and Russia are relatively simple, they remain highly dangerous to NATO pilots, requiring new solutions and combat adaptations to keep pace with the evolving nature of warfare.
This is why the emergence of American kamikaze drones is now being seen, with these being capable of striking targets through swarm formations at long range and eliminating the need to send additional pilots to perform the same mission at far greater financial cost and risk.
Their sustained impact mirrors the tactics employed by Russia and Iran.
It is important to note that these drones do not carry the same heavy firepower as armour-piercing or bunker-busting bombs and missiles. Instead, they are likely to be used as a deterrent or to generate significant combat momentum, reducing the number of aircraft required for a single mission.
The arrival of these drones in the Middle East signals that future battles will increasingly involve drone exchanges from all sides, whether launched by Israel and the United States or by their adversaries, be they regular armies or militias.
But the mere possession of such systems is not enough to decide the outcome of wars. Rather, it serves as a reminder that cost efficiency and logistical support are fundamental to the design of future weapons.
These systems will rely heavily on advanced software in future, far more lethal than what we see today. And this transformation is unfolding most visibly in the Middle East and closer to us than we might imagine.
The writer is a researcher in the Security and Defence Programme’s Amament Unit at the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies (ECSS).
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