Deadliest Catch: Florida Boaters Fish Up A Lost US Air Force Attack Drone

Drones are becoming a major force in the world's battlespaces, not least in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Both sides have developed a wide variety of drones, with systems that swim, float, walk, and fly. One of the most-used drone types in the conflict is the one-way attack drone, which is effectively a piloted bomb that can fly to a target area, smash into something, and blow it to smithereens.

For Russia, the drone favored for this purpose has been the Iranian-made HESA Shahed-136. The United States reverse-engineered one of these drones to create the Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS), which it has been testing for some time. We know this because a Florida fishing charter pulled one out of the water while fishing outside Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and the similarities between the two drones are clear. The U.S. began using LUCAS drones on February 28, 2026, after only eight months of development.

Each LUCAS drone costs the government $35,000, though some reports suggest that the number is closer to $55,000. Regardless, the U.S. has clearly flown LUCAS drones in and around Elgin AFB, and one of the units operating there clearly lost a LUCAS — only for a fishing boat to recover it.

The fishing charter's unusual catch certainly made for some fun headlines, but it also shows that the U.S. is developing drones based on combat performance seen in the European conflict. While the U.S. has been using militarized drones since the MQ-1 Predator "Hunter-Killer" drone was first armed in 2001, most U.S. drones have been large airborne platforms, not one-way attack vehicles.

That's changing rapidly, and the LUCAS drone proves it. The drone, which is a version of SpektreWorks' FLM 136, a target model drone that resembles Iran's one-way attack drone, represents a doctrinal shift in how the nation fights in a world where drones are clearly the future of warfare. Even the U.S. Navy is on board, having successfully test-launched the drone from a warship in December 2025.

A public affairs spokesperson from Elgin AFB told Military Times that a LUCAS drone impacted the water during a routine test, two days before the fishing charter found it. In a comment on the Facebook post, the charter stated that the U.S. Army had recovered its drone, which the military later confirmed to outlets such as Military Times.