Air Weapons: US Deploys Clone of Iranian Shahed Drones
December 25, 2025: The United States is producing LUCAS, a derivative of the FLM 136 target drone. LUCAS stands for Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System and costs $35,000 each. LUCAS has the same operating characteristics as the FLM 136 target drone which weighs 50 kg, is powered by a 50 HP engine, has a top speed of around 180 kilometers an hour, endurance of six hours and a maximum range of approximately 1,000 kilometers while carrying a 20 kg warhead. LUCAS is currently undergoing final tests, but some American units already have LUCAS. LUCAS can also be equipped with a number of electronic and communications enhancements. The U.S. expects to produce up to 5,000 of these drones a month.
Meanwhile Russia initially produced its own drones after briefly using imported Iranian Shahed-136 drones that cost over $100,000 each. Ukraine demonstrated that you could design and build drones with similar capabilities at less than a tenth of that. The Iranian drone was more complex than it needed to be and even the Russians soon realized this and turned from the Shahed-136 for more capable drones they copied from Ukrainian designs or ones Russians designed.
Iran says it is not supplying Russia with Shahed-136s but they continue to be used. Most of the Shahed-136s used by the Russian since 2023 were built in a Russian drone factory designed and built with Iranian assistance. Russians call this version the Geran-2 or simply Geran. This version costs about $50,000 each, Weight is 240 kg, length is 3.5 meters and wingspan is 2.5 meters. It is armed with a warhead containing 30 to 50 kg, most of it explosives. That’s not a lot because most cruise missiles carry warheads weighing half a ton or more.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairw/articles/2025122553316.aspx#gsc.tab=0
