Air Force Confirmed LUCAS Drone Went Down During Testing
An ocean fishing charter off the Florida Coast near Eglin Air Force Base caught a U.S. military LUCAS drone, a one-way attack aircraft derived from a design modeled after Iran’s Shahed-136.
Base officials confirmed to Task & Purpose that the drone (file photo) went down Sept. 17 during routine testing on the base’s range, two days before fishermen found it floating in the Gulf.
“On Thursday, Sept. 17, a LUCAS UAS impacted the water during routine scheduled testing on the Eglin AFB Range,” an Eglin spokesperson told Task & Purpose. “The aircraft has been recovered and is back in the Department’s possession.”
The War Zone first reported the drone’s recovery and that Eglin had acknowledged losing an unidentified test aircraft.
The fishermen who found the wayward drone, Hotspot Charters, were nearing the end of a day of fishing when they spotted debris in the water, including a cooler, pool floats and other beach trash. While cleaning up the refuse, they noticed what looked like an overturned skiff.
They immediately worried that a boat had capsized and moved closer to check. Instead, they found what appeared to be a military practice drone.
Daniel Arsenault, the charter boat captain, told Task & Purpose that the four customers aboard were military search-and-rescue helicopter pilots. Arsenault said their first instinct was to check for anyone who might need help.
The charter captain said they radioed the Coast Guard from about 20 miles southeast of Pensacola Pass but were told the service was already occupied with an active search. That’s when they decided to bring the drone back with them.
The roughly 10-foot-long drone was partially submerged and filled with water, Arsenault said. Six men aboard the charter held it alongside the boat until the water drained before wrestling it aboard.
Arsenault said the military members aboard opened accessible panels looking for a phone number or other identifying information but found no markings indicating which service owned it. Once they returned to shore, the local sheriff’s department took possession of it. Later that day, Arsenault said someone from the military called him and asked for “their drone back.”
Photo credit U.S. Navy Spc. Kayla Mc Guire.
FMI: www.af.mil