Iran Claims It Shot Down a US LUCAS Drone Over Bandar Abbas; No US Confirmation
Iran’s army says its air defences shot down a US LUCAS drone over the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on the morning of Sunday 25 October 2026. The claim was carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency and reported by Reuters. The US military had not confirmed any loss when this article was published, and DefenceMENA has not been able to verify the claim independently. Incident label: CLAIMED SHOT DOWN.
What Iran said
According to the army’s public relations office, the drone was hit by army air defence units operating within Iran’s integrated air defence network (Mehr News Agency). The statement did not give a time, altitude or the weapon used. Iranian state media published photographs said to show the wreckage; DefenceMENA has not been able to verify where or when they were taken, and is not reproducing them. Iran International and Arab News also reported the claim.
Bandar Abbas sits on the Strait of Hormuz and is home to major Iranian naval facilities. Iran did not say whether the drone was on a strike or reconnaissance mission, or where it had been launched from.
What LUCAS is
LUCAS (Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System) is a one-way attack drone made by the Arizona company SpektreWorks and modelled on Iran’s own Shahed-136. US Central Command set up Task Force Scorpion Strike in December 2025 to field it in the Middle East (Defense News), and confirmed its first combat use against Iran on 28 February 2026 (C4ISRNet). Because LUCAS is designed as an expendable munition, a shoot-down, if confirmed, would mean an interception of an incoming attack drone rather than the loss of a recoverable aircraft.
Context
The claim follows the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ assertion on 20 October that it had shot down a 54th US MQ-9 Reaper, which also remains unconfirmed by Washington. Iranian forces have continued cross-border action in the region, including a drone strike on a Komala base in Iraqi Kurdistan this week. US-Iran tensions have risen again in recent days amid US warnings of possible strikes.
What is not yet known
There is no US statement on whether a LUCAS was lost, or whether US forces were operating over Bandar Abbas on Sunday. DefenceMENA will update this report if US Central Command or the Pentagon comments.
