![\"LUCAS](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/LUCAS-OWA-Hivemind-1-460x259.jpg\")
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Shield AI\u2019s Hivemind autonomous flight software will be integrated onto the U.S.-made Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) One-Way Attack (OWA) drone, the company announced on May 19, 2026<\/a>. Shield AI was selected by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (OUSW R&E) ahead of an operational demonstration this fall.<\/p>\n With Hivemind, LUCAS, a reverse engineered version of the Iranian Shahed-136 OWA, would be able to operate intelligently in coordinated swarms in degraded and contested environments, Shield AI said. The demonstration will feature a coordinated swarm operation of Hivemind-enabled LUCAS drones with minimal man-in-the-loop control.<\/p>\n With Hivemind, LUCAS drones can make more advanced maneuvers, fly in unpredictable patterns, trajectories, evade obstacles and ground-based air defenses. The announcement also comes amid U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to resume strikes on Iran under Operation Epic Fury<\/a>, the same operation that saw the combat debut of the LUCAS drone.<\/p>\n Affordable mass just got smarter.@DoWCTO<\/a> (OUSW R&E) selected Shield AI to integrate Hivemind onto LUCAS, the @DeptofWar<\/a>\u2018s new class of low-cost, one-way attack drones built to operate in large numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cLUCAS is about delivering affordable mass, but mass without coordination\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/5NAGTj6k9k<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Shield AI (@shieldaitech) May 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) revealed on Mar. 2<\/a> and Mar. 3<\/a> that LUCAS was among the dozens of air, ground and unmanned combat, reconnaissance and transport platforms used in the first 48 hours of the conflict. The drone was launched for the first time in December 2025<\/a>, when it was employed from the flight deck of the USS Santa Barbara, an Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)<\/p>\n CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said that the LUCAS strikes were conducted by the dedicated Task Force Scorpion Strike<\/a>. Videos emerged by mid-March<\/a> showed LUCAS drones striking Iranian-backed militia targets in Iraq, and a near intact LUCAS drone, with no apparent damage to the airframe, was also captured by Iraqi locals.<\/p>\n The first confirmed footage of the use of the American kamikaze drone LUCAS during Operation \u201cEpic Fury\u201d against a target of the pro-Iranian \u201cPopular Mobilization Forces\u201d in the Mahmour area of the Nineveh province in Iraq. pic.twitter.com\/Wjg5Q1rND4<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jack Straw (@JackStr42679640) March 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Hivemind has so far been tested on other platforms like the MQ-20 Avenger<\/a>, the Airbus MQ-72C helicopter drone<\/a>, BQM-177A<\/a> and Airbus\u2019s DT25<\/a> target drones, Anduril\u2019s YFQ-44A Fury<\/a> Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), and Northrop Grumman\u2019s Talon IQ<\/a> autonomy testbed. A major platform it is meant to operate\u00a0 is Shield AI\u2019s own X-BAT<\/a> advanced Vertical Take-Off Landing (VTOL) fighter-class CCA, expected to be pitched in the CCA program\u2019s Increment 2 phase.\u00a0<\/p>\n Shield AI described the LUCAS saying it is \u201cdesigned to operate in large numbers\u201d as \u201caffordable mass [\u2026] that can be deployed together to overwhelm adversary defenses and give warfighters more capability at scale.\u201d This is in line with descriptions which were already provided by the U.S. military.<\/p>\n In a reversal, footage of an American LUCAS attack drone hitting an Iranian-backed militia position in Iraq. pic.twitter.com\/1o9Z48m8L7<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n With only an input from the operator, the Hivemind AI pilot can enable groups of LUCAS drones to \u201ccoordinate, maneuver, and adapt together to changing conditions in real time.\u201d Shield AI will conduct an operational demonstration this fall, where \u201ca single operator will command a swarm of autonomous systems operating together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe effort marks a major step toward operationalizing collaborative autonomy:\u00a0 teams of autonomous systems working together in dynamic and communications-constrained environments under the supervision of a single operator,\u201d Shield AI said.<\/p>\n Shield AI\u2019s co-founder and president Brandon Tseng upheld the importance of coordination to enhance affordable mass. \u201cHivemind is the AI pilot that makes that mass intelligent,\u201d said Tseng. \u201cIt\u2019s the autonomy layer that enables teams of drones to sense, decide, and act at scale. We\u2019re proud to partner with OUSW R&E to put this capability in the hands of the warfighter at the speed of relevance.\u201d<\/p>\n For the First Time, US Forces Use Deadly New Iranian-Style Kamikaze Drones in \u2018Epic Fury\u2019 Operation Against the Mullahs\u2019 Regime | Paul Serran, The Gateway Pundit<\/p>\n The Lucas\u2019 new kamikaze drones have their baptism of fire in the first salvo of the war on Iran.<\/p>\n We have been\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Kt3OoDhoBS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) March 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Hivemind eases the employment of \u201cnetworked unmanned systems\u201d with only a single operator commanding multiple platforms simultaneously for \u201ccomplex coordinated operations.\u201d The release expanded on the nature and scope of human control: \u201cHumans remain in control of strike decisions while autonomy manages navigation, coordination, and execution. The result shortens the time from detection to action across the kill chain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Hivemind AI pilot enables platforms to sense, decide, and act independently, without human intervention. Unlike traditional autopilots that cannot deviate from preplanned routes, Hivemind dynamically reroutes mission plans, responds to unexpected conditions, avoids obstacles, and executes complex tasks safely and effectively,\u201d the release further said.<\/p>\n \u2014 Red Line News (@RedLineNewsUSA) March 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Developed by Arizona-based Spektreworks, the LUCAS drone is internally designated the FLM 136 \u2013 a clear reference to the Iranian Shahed-136<\/a> design that inspired its development. However the LUCAS\u2019s kinematic characteristics are considerably lower to the Shahed, with a range of 350 nautical miles, six-hour endurance, 40 pound payload and 180 pound Maximum Take-Off Weight.<\/p>\n The Shahed-136, on the other hand, can reach 1,350 nautical miles, has a 110 pound warhead and a 440 pound maximum take-off weight. Nevertheless, the advancement in the LUCAS program comes amid Pentagon aspiring to both increase production and field a host of attack drones as a part of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth\u2019s Drone Dominance initiative.<\/p>\n The costs involved play a big part in this, as a single LUCAS drone costs about $35,000. This also reflects the Pentagon\u2019s current focus on high numbers of low-cost weapons to be quickly procured.<\/p>\n Prioritizing autonomous capabilities, the DoW in fiscal 2027 alone plans to spend nearly $55 billion, overseen by the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG) outfit. The DAWG is essentially a Trump administration iteration of the Biden-era Replicator initiative to acquire thousands of low-cost \u201cattritable\u201d drones, particularly for use in the Pacific.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shield AI has been selected to integrate Hivemind on the LUCAS drones, enabling them to coordinate and operate intelligently in a swarm. Shield AI\u2019s Hivemind autonomous flight software will be integrated onto the U.S.-made Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) One-Way Attack (OWA) drone, the company announced on May 19, 2026. Shield AI was selected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Hivemind to power LUCAS OWAs<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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![\"\ud83d\udea8\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f6a8.png\")
Breaking: Locals in Iraq appear to have recovered a crashed but largely intact U.S. LUCAS one-way attack drone \u2014 a Shahed-136\u2013style system \u2014 used in recent strikes during Operation Epic Fury.pic.twitter.com\/6GikRVE1jt<\/a><\/p>\nU.S. pursuing attritable drones<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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