On the 2nd local time of this month, residents in Iraq discovered and fully recovered a downed US military drone.The overall structure of the drone is basically intact, and the Starlink antenna is clearly visible on the fuselage., related videos were widely circulated on social media and attracted attention.
The crashed drone is the US military's new LUCAS (Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System), developed by SpectreWorks in Arizona. It is a replica of the Iranian "Shahid-136" drone. The US military claims that the cost of a single aircraft is about US$35,000 (some sources say US$100,000), which is much higher than the original Iranian version.
As you can see from the video,The Starlink satellite communication antenna is clearly visible on the fuselage of this drone, showing that it relies on Musk's Starlink network to achieve beyond-line-of-sight control and data backhaul., which is a core technology upgrade that is different from the Iranian original version.
As of now, the United States has not officially responded to the incident, and the Iraqi government has not issued a relevant statement. Some analysts believe that the drone may have crashed on its own due to a navigation failure or technical problem, rather than being shot down.
It is worth noting that the drone discovered this time was unexploded and structurally intact. Sensitive components (such as Starlink modules and navigation systems) may be obtained by Iran or its allies.
