NEW YORK, March 18. /TASS/. The Pentagon is planning to mass produce LUCAS drones, which were developed from the Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone, Emil Michael, the US Defense Department’s undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said.
"The idea is to mass produce them in this country and have surge capacity," Emil Michael is quoted by Bloomberg as saying at a defense industry conference in Washington on Tuesday. "They work very well so far," Michael added, calling the drones "a useful tool in the arsenal."
The agency did not provide further details. In early March, the Pentagon publicly confirmed that such drones were being used in the US campaign against Iran. The LUCAS (Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System) is an equivalent of the Iranian Shahed-136 munition. It weighs up to 600 kg and has a delta wing measuring approximately 2.5 meters by 3 meters.
Pentagon leadership has described the system as indispensable in the conflict.