U.S. Central Command has announced the deployment of America’s first overseas one-way attack drone squadron, marking a major strategic shift in the military’s approach to countering Iranian drone warfare. The unit, operated by two dozen personnel under Task Force Scorpion Strike, is stationed in an undisclosed Middle Eastern country and equipped with newly developed LUCAS drones—low-cost, autonomously guided munitions reverse-engineered from Iran’s Shahed-136 model.

Iran’s Shahed drones have been used repeatedly against U.S. troops, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other American regional partners, as well as against Ukrainian targets through Russia’s procurement. By adapting this platform into an American-produced system, the U.S. military aims to counter Iran using its own tactics—only with greater precision, scalability, and strategic intent.

Each drone costs roughly $35,000, a fraction of the price of traditional military strike assets. According to a U.S. official, the drones are “not sophisticated by design,” allowing them to be produced rapidly and in large quantities. Rows of the newly assembled LUCAS drones were displayed in CENTCOM’s announcement video, positioned on desert launch racks ready for deployment.

The official highlighted the mission’s strategic message, declaring, “We are flipping the script… We can reach any target we desire in Iran.” The establishment of this squadron signals a major escalation in the U.S. response to Iran’s expanding drone arsenal, offering a low-cost, high-impact option for long-range strikes.

With the ability to be scaled quickly and deployed across remote theaters, the new drone force represents a potent addition to America’s evolving asymmetric warfare capabilities, directly challenging Iran’s efforts to dominate the region’s drone battlefield.