A newly formed task force based in the Middle East is now equipped and ready to deploy one-way attack drones, U.S. Central Command has announced.
Task Force Scorpion Strike was formed four months after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth released a memo calling for the rapid integration of drone technology across all military services.
The unit is already equipped with a squadron of Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System drones, known as LUCAS drones. With a robust, simple design, LUCAS drones have a wingspan of about 8 feet and can be used flexibly as munitions.
Designed by U.S.-based SpektreWorks, they bear similarities to Iran’s Shahed-136 drones and can maneuver in swarms.
The LUCAS drones are a product of a damaged Shahed drone that was captured several years ago. A U.S. defense official recently told CNN that developers were able to reverse-engineer the Iranian weapon to create the LUCAS.
They can be launched using a variety of different methods, including from trucks, catapults and with rocket propulsion systems to deliver powerful explosive strikes.
“This new task force sets the conditions for using innovation as a deterrent,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in a release. “Equipping our warfighters faster with cutting-edge drone capabilities showcases U.S. military innovation and strength, which deters bad actors.”
The task force is led by Special Operations Command personnel and works closely with a technology task force launched by U.S. Central Command in September aimed to rapidly make new technologies available to troops in the field, particularly autonomous systems.
The latest deployment of LUCAS drones in the Middle East constitutes a shifting U.S. focus on cheaper systems like drones to act as a counterbalance to Iranian airpower in the region.
Zita Ballinger Fletcher previously served as editor of Military History Quarterly and Vietnam magazines and as the historian of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She holds an M.A. with distinction in military history.
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