Florida Fishing Charter Hauls In Massive Air Force Attack Drone

A fishing charter operating off Florida near Eglin Air Force Base landed a catch far stranger than anything its customers expected.

Floating in the Gulf was a large gray LUCAS drone, a U.S. military one way attack aircraft derived from a design modeled after Iran’s Shahed-136.

Eglin officials confirmed that the aircraft went down Sept. 17 during routine testing on the base’s range. Fishermen discovered it floating in the Gulf two days later.

“On Thursday, Sept. 17, a LUCAS UAS impacted the water during routine scheduled testing on the Eglin AFB Range,” an Eglin spokesperson said.

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“The aircraft has been recovered and is back in the Department’s possession.”

The War Zone first reported the recovery and Eglin’s acknowledgment that it had lost an unidentified test aircraft.

By the time military officials reclaimed it, however, the drone had already become the fishing story of the day.

Hotspot Charters was nearing the end of a day on the water when those aboard noticed debris, including a cooler, pool floats and other beach trash. While cleaning up the refuse, they spotted something resembling an overturned skiff.

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The group immediately worried that a boat had capsized, so the charter moved closer to investigate. Instead of finding a vessel in distress, those aboard encountered what appeared to be a military practice drone.

Charter boat captain Daniel Arsenault said that his four customers were military search and rescue helicopter pilots.

Their first reaction, he said, was to determine whether anyone nearby needed help.

The charter contacted the Coast Guard from about 20 miles southeast of Pensacola Pass. Arsenault said the service was occupied with an active search, so the group decided to bring the mysterious aircraft back with them.

Before beginning that difficult recovery, the fishermen took advantage of the marine life gathering around their unusual discovery.

Image Credit: DoW

Smaller fish were using the waterlogged drone as cover in open water, attracting something more appropriate for a fishing charter.

The group cast around the partially submerged aircraft and caught mahi-mahi and tripletail. Only after landing those fish did the men turn their attention to hauling the military hardware aboard.

Arsenault estimated that the drone was roughly 10 feet long and filled with water. Six men held it alongside the charter boat until enough water drained from the aircraft for them to wrestle it aboard.

The military personnel on the boat opened accessible panels in search of a phone number or identifying information.

According to Arsenault, they found no markings showing which military service owned the aircraft.

After the boat returned to shore, the local sheriff’s department took possession of the drone. Arsenault said somebody from the military called later that day and asked for “their drone back.”

The LUCAS aircraft has recently evolved from a training surrogate into a combat weapon. U.S. Central Command used the one way attack drones during Operation Epic Fury after previously establishing Task Force Scorpion Strike under U.S. Special Operations Command Central.

Image Credit: DoW

Task Force Scorpion Strike was identified as the military’s first dedicated one way attack drone unit.

The aircraft recovered by Hotspot Charters had come down during testing rather than during the combat operations described in the report.

Arsenault said the drone was found about five miles from an area he knew was used for military testing.

Finding debris connected to that activity was not itself an extraordinary event for people familiar with those waters.

“They do tests out there all the time on different types of unmanned vehicles,” Arsenault said. “It’s not uncommon to find stuff floating. It was just uncommon to find it in such an intact state.”

Arsenault placed the LUCAS drone among the five most unusual objects he has recovered from the Gulf.

Even for an experienced charter captain, a mostly intact military attack drone apparently earns a prominent position on the list.

“That’s the great thing about fishing,” he said. “You never know what you’re gonna catch.”

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