The Trump administration rejected an offer from Ukraine to partner on technology capable of defending against Iranian drones last year -- the same defense tech the U.S. is now seeking to acquire.

The great irony, however, is that the LUCAS drone is based on Iran’s own low-cost one-way attack drone, the Shahed-136. In May 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump publicly praised the Iranian drones as cheap to produce,

These cheap drones are responsible for most of the American casualties in the current conflict.

Trump officials point out ‘tactical error’ they made in build-up to Iran war: ‘This was it’ - Months before the Iran war, the US reportedly ignored an offer for anti-drone defense help from battle-tes

Iran has launched waves of Shahed drones to menace Persian Gulf nations. The U.S. has unleashed its own copycat on Iran. It’s a sign of how war is changing.

The drone was operated by TFSS, a squadron dedicated to one-way attack drones in the Middle East.

Struck by the success of large-scale, low-cost drone attacks, the US made covert efforts to capture Iranian Shahed-136s for technical analysis.

After years on the front lines of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Iranian Shahed-136 drone is at the center of Tehran's retaliation against recent U.S. strikes.

Mass-produced attack drones are overwhelming traditional air defenses. Ukraine is developing autonomous interceptor drones designed to destroy them at far lower cost.

As Iran launches Shahed suicide drones across the Middle East in retaliation for ongoing US-Israeli attacks, countries are spending millions of dollars intercepting them. The UAE,