Florida fishing crew recovers U.S. military drone

A charter fishing crew from Pensacola, Florida, discovered a large military drone floating in the Gulf of Mexico near Eglin Air Force Base. The crew of Hot Spots Charters, led by Captain Daniel Arsenault, spotted the aircraft while fishing on a Saturday.

Eglin Air Force Base officials confirmed that a test article went down during routine scheduled testing on the base’s range on September 17. The recovered aircraft is identified as a LUCAS (Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System) drone, which is a U.S. military version of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136.

Manufactured by Arizona-based Spektreworks, these drones are approximately 2.9 meters long and weigh about 32 kilograms. The U.S. Air Force developed the LUCAS model as a low-cost unmanned combat attack system. Following the discovery, authorities arrived to retrieve the device, which was missing its nose section and propeller due to the impact with the water.