Pentagon catches up with Iran in drone arms race by simply copying it – Jalopnik

The US military, the best-funded military force in the world, is in a desperate race to catch up with the technological superpower… Iran? The Pentagon recently unveiled a delta-wing drone called the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS), made by SpektreWorks. If it looks a little familiar, that’s because it was reverse-engineered from captured Iranian Shahed-136 drones, which Russia is currently deploying in Ukraine. That is a tacit admission that America’s adversaries have adapted better to the form of modern warfare than the Pentagon. If you don’t pass the test yourself, just copy the other person’s answers.

As America invented drone warfare during the War on Terror, the focus was on relatively large and expensive platforms, such as General Atomics’ original MQ-1 Predator and its successor, the MQ-9 Reaper. But recent developments in conflict zones such as Ukraine have shown the power of smaller and cheaper designs, many of which are ‘kamikaze’ drones that are not intended to fly back home. The Shah (meaning ‘martyr’) is a powerful example, capable of flying more than 1,200 miles with an 88-pound warhead and a top speed of 115 mph, according to the War zone. Although somewhat unreliable, they are cheap at $35,000 each, making them easy to mass-produce and launch in large swarms. Russia is destroying the Ukrainian sun with its own version.

LUCAS also costs $35,000, but may not be as good as the Iranian original. SpektreWorks also makes a dummy drone based on the Shahed-136, called the FLM 136, which can only fly 450 miles with a 40-pound warhead. If LUCAS shares these statistics, then it is only fractionally as capable as the Shahed, despite being made in the most technologically advanced country in the world. That may come down to simple economics: It’s expensive to make things in America, so to match the price you have to sacrifice skills.

The intention is that this design will not only be made by SpektreWorks, but will be manufactured by a large number of companies, according to the War zone. This is in line with the Defense Department’s current effort to increase the domestic supply of drones in general. The big question is what the right mix of drones should be. There are also fighter jet-style “loyal wingman” drones in development, each costing millions of dollars. Historically, the US military likes its big, expensive weapons projects, and the defense industry likes to get paid for them. To what extent that mentality should change is an ongoing debate.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is already innovating ways to counter the dreaded Shahed drone. With the support of European manufacturers, the beleaguered country uses ram drones to simply hammer wobbly Shaheds out of the sky. And while $35,000 may sound cheap to the Pentagon, Ukraine is deploying $500 FPV drones on the battlefield en masse. It even used them to attack a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, one of the most expensive aircraft at its disposal. Is America, the country that invented drone warfare, ready for the next drone war? The answer is not yet clear enough. But somehow, change is coming.