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Posted on 03/02/2026 11:04:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In light of recent news out of the Middle East, we have to rewrite the old dictum — provenance disputed — that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. Because you know those Iranian-made Shahed drones Russia keeps smacking Ukraine with? Yeah, we hit Iran last weekend with a copycat version of the very same drone.
In July of 2025, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth headed up a Pentagon event showing off 18 American-made drone prototypes, that had gone from drawing board to development in just an average of 18 months. By comparison, the Navy's F/A-XX to replace the aging F/A-18 multirole jets with a modern platform started in 2012, and they haven't even chosen a design.
One of the prototypes shown off by Hegseth looked more than a little familiar to anyone following the Russo-Ukraine War drone campaign, because it was a virtual copy of Iran's infamous Shahed drone, now made in Russia, too, and manufactured in the thousands. Only this one is made in Arizona by a startup called SpektreWorks.
They cost roughly $35,000 apiece and have an attack range of roughly 450 miles.
Iran calls it Shahed, or Witness. The Russians call their domestically produced version Geran-2, or Geranium. We call ours the Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, because of course we do.
Anyway.
At the time, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael told reporters, "It’s an extraordinary achievement. This kind of thing was going to take five, six years."
This was all in response to an executive order by President Donald Trump, directing the Pentagon to "procure, integrate, and train using low-cost, high-performing drones manufactured in the United States."
Trump called it "unleashing American drone dominance," and not even a year later, here we are.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
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"For the price of a single Tomahawk, you can launch 57 LUCAS drones," analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera posted over the weekend. What's even more remarkable is the cost savings — even over the Russian model. "A Shahed-136 in Russian production costs approximately $80,000 per unit at the Alabuga facility. The American reverse-engineered version costs less than half the Russian licensed copy of the Iranian original.
Love it. That is called “Leadership” with a capital “L”.
Here is the mandate from the top. Get it done. Make money and provide jobs.
well, Shaheed is an original US designed drone, captured and copied by Iran.
But they made is cheaper.
So it comes full circle.
Is that a Starlink antenna on top?
Yes
So, you can get a couple of those for about the same price as a nice Chevy Sierra EV to drive a general around in.
The Prince of Darkness?
I'm suffering with acronymony.
“Is that a Starlink antenna on top?”
Here is the Community Note on X about this:
“The drones run on Starshield satellite network, that’s separate from Starklink. Starshield was developed, build, and launched by SpaceX in partnership with and strictly for use by the US military.”
Elon confirmed in an X post yesterday.
Awesome, and that’s not all Iran is dealing with:
“Donald Trump For President
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⚡ A NEW ERA OF WARFARE: Iron Beam Scores First Historic Interceptions 🇮🇱🛡️
The “Silent Guardian” has spoken. Moments ago, the world witnessed the first-ever combat use of high-power laser weaponry to intercept incoming rockets. As Hezbollah launched a massive wave of retaliatory strikes following the fall of the Tehran regime, Israel’s Iron Beam system (Hebrew: Or Eitan) officially moved from testing to history.
While scaled-down versions (Lite Beam) were used to down drones in 2024, today marked the first confirmed interception of short-range rockets and mortars by the full 100kW Iron Beam system.
Unlike the Iron Dome, which fires interceptor missiles costing roughly $50,000 to $80,000 each, the Iron Beam neutralizes targets for just a few dollars per shot (essentially the cost of electricity).
As long as the system has a power source, it can fire indefinitely. This “unlimited magazine” is a game-changer for Israel as it faces simultaneous barrages from multiple fronts.
Video released by the Israel War Room shows the laser focusing energy on the “diameter of a coin” at a distance of up to 10km, causing immediate structural failure of the projectile mid-air.
The Iron Beam is now working in perfect synchronization with the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow systems, handling the “small stuff” so the more expensive missiles can be reserved for heavy ballistic threats.”
Yikes!
“captured and copied by Iran”
++++
Exactly! Back in 2011, I believe. Hussein asked nicely for the Iranians to give it back and they told him to stuff it.
I guess pallets of billions in cash didn’t go as far as he thought they would.
“captured and copied by Iran”...........
Did they capture it or did B. Hussein give it to them?
It was obvious (to me at least) at the time that Americas top drone tech was intentionally provided to Iran by that demonic fly-infested Obama creature.
I believe it was ‘gifted’.
Ms. Jarrett and Ms. Abedin, please pick up the white courtesy phone....
Not the first time the US copied a drone. During WW-II the Army Air Corps reverse engineered a German V-1 flying bomb and was testing US made prototypes for possible deployment against Japan
Only if manufactured in Britain.
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