Florida fishing boat recovers shahed-style drone near US air base

A Florida fishing charter boat made an unusual discovery off the coast near Eglin Air Force Base, recovering a delta-wing drone from the water during a fishing trip,TWZ reports.

The drone, found by Hot Spots Charters in the waters off the western Florida Panhandle, closely resembles the Iranian Shahed-136 one-way attack drone. It is reportedly similar to the US military’s FLM-136 target drone, developed by SpektreWorks as a replica of the Shahed-136 for testing and training before the design was adapted into the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS).

An Eglin Air Force Base spokesperson confirmed that the installation had recently lost a drone during a test but did not confirm whether it was the same aircraft recovered by the fishing crew.

“I can confirm that we were doing a test and the test article went down,” the spokesperson said, declining to provide details about the drone, when it was lost or where it went down.

According to local charter captain Charlie Green, Captain Daniel Arsenault spotted the object from a distance and approached it to investigate.

“The drone was found by local charter Capt. Daniel Arsenault with Hot Spots Charters,” Green said. “He saw the object at a distance and went over to check it out. When he did, he pulled a good size mahi-mahi out from underneath it, complementing his already stocked cooler full of fish from that morning charter. His passengers helped him haul it aboard.”

“Arsenault and his charter company did all the due diligence possible to notify local agencies of the recovery- and was eventually collected by one of them,” Green added.

Eglin is home to the Air Force’s 96th Test Wing, which oversees weapons testing and the extensive Eglin Gulf Test Range.

The LUCAS system, which is based on the Shahed-136 design, was first used in combat during Operation Epic Fury against Iran, according to the report. The system is designed as a relatively low-cost, long-range one-way attack drone capable of autonomous operation.

The recovery is not unprecedented. In 2021, a US Air Force BQM-167A target drone washed ashore in Florida’s Palm Beach County.

While the origin of the recovered drone has not been confirmed, its discovery highlights the extensive testing of unmanned systems conducted around Eglin’s vast overwater ranges.

By Vafa Guliyeva