{"id":472091,"date":"2025-12-26T04:33:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T04:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/472091\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T04:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T04:33:15","slug":"san-diego-based-littoral-combat-ship-launches-navys-first-attack-drone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/472091\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego-based littoral combat ship launches Navy&#8217;s first attack drone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Attack-Drone.jpg?ssl=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Attack-Drone.jpg\" alt=\"LUCAS drone launches\" class=\"wp-image-361040\"  \/><\/a>A LUCAS drone launches from the USS Santa Barbara in the Arabian Gulf. (Photo courtesy of the Navy)<\/p>\n<p>The crew of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.surfpac.navy.mil\/lcs32\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">USS Santa Barbara<\/a> and personnel from\u00a0U.S. Naval Forces Central Command successfully launched a one-way attack drone from a warship at sea for the first time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2025\/Dec\/18\/2003844659\/-1\/-1\/0\/251216-N-NO146-1228.JPG\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The San Diego-based  littoral combat ship was in the Arabian Gulf when a new Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, was launched from the flight deck earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis first successful launch of LUCAS from a naval vessel marks a significant milestone in rapidly delivering affordable and effective unmanned capabilities to the warfighter,\u201d said Vice Adm. Curt Renshaw, commander of NAVCENT and  the Fifth Fleet. \u201cThis achievement demonstrates the power of innovation and joint collaboration in this critical region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Navy said its LUCAS drones have an \u201cextensive range\u201d and can operate autonomously after launch.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Bravo Zulu. U.S. Navy forces in the Middle East are advancing warfighting capability in new ways, bringing more striking power from the sea and setting conditions for using innovation as a deterrent.&#8221; \u2013 Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM Commander <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TgQ4WLbph3\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/TgQ4WLbph3<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WUiAVojTht\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/WUiAVojTht<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CENTCOM\/status\/2001639152698429755?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Built by Arizona-based <a href=\"https:\/\/spektreworks.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SpektreWorks<\/a>, the LUCAS is a U.S. version of a type of drone designed by Iran and used extensively by Russia against targets in the Ukraine. The aircraft are approximately 10 feet long with an 8-foot wingspan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis platform will undoubtedly enhance regional maritime security and deterrence,\u201d said Renshaw.<\/p>\n<p>The Santa Barbara is operating as part of the Navy\u2019s Task Force Scorpion Strike squadron, which was formed to train U.S. service members with the latest cutting-edge weapons.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>READ NEXT<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A LUCAS drone launches from the USS Santa Barbara in the Arabian Gulf. (Photo courtesy of the Navy)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":472092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,214141,1582,276,5755,384,5502,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,214142],"class_list":{"0":"post-472091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arabian-sea","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-drones","13":"tag-lucas","14":"tag-navy","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-sandiego","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa","23":"tag-uss-santa-barbara"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115784005528980555","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}