U.S. Forms First Multinational Attack Drone Force to Expand Middle East Operations.

The United States is establishing a new structure in the Middle East intended to integrate aerial, surface, and underwater attack drones with regional partner forces. Known as Task Force Falcon Strike, the formation will bring together U.S. and allied personnel around uncrewed systems able to operate across several domains.

The initiative comes as recent operations against Iran have confirmed the growing role of one-way attack drones in strike campaigns, while security in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea remains under sustained military pressure.

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A Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) launches from the flight deck of the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32) in the Arabian Gulf on December 16, 2025. (Picture source: US DoD)

Falcon Strike builds on an effort launched in late 2025 with Task Force Scorpion Strike, the first U.S. unit specifically dedicated to one-way attack drones within CENTCOM’s area of responsibility. Scorpion Strike was created to accelerate the deployment of systems that are less expensive and potentially easier to produce than some traditional precision-guided munitions. The unit has since provided an operational framework for several types of uncrewed platforms and has allowed U.S. forces to test new employment concepts from both land and maritime platforms.

In a statement issued on August 13, 2026, U.S. Central Command officially confirmed the creation of Task Force Falcon Strike and described it as the first multinational and multi-domain force dedicated to this type of mission. According to the command, it will operate one-way attack drones in the air, on the surface and below the sea, with U.S. and regional military personnel. CENTCOM said it has begun consulting and formally inviting partners, although it has not yet identified which countries will join. U.S. Special Operations Command Central, or SOCCENT, will lead the multinational staff.

The Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS, is one of the systems already associated with this broader U.S. operational shift. Developed and manufactured by Arizona-based SpektreWorks, LUCAS is a long-range loitering munition also designated FLM-136 within the company’s Flexible Loitering Munition family. It is intended as an attritable precision-strike system designed for comparatively low-cost production and scalable deployment. The platform can be launched by catapult, with rocket-assisted takeoff, or from mobile ground and vehicle-mounted systems. On December 16, 2025, Task Force 59 also launched a LUCAS from the USS Santa Barbara, an Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship operating in the Persian Gulf, demonstrating that the capability can be distributed between land positions and naval platforms.

This flexibility matters because it increases the number of locations from which a strike can be prepared without relying solely on air bases or fixed launch sites. LUCAS, however, remains available in relatively limited numbers. In March 2026, Pentagon technology official Emil Michael said U.S. inventories at the time amounted to only dozens of systems and that full-rate production had not yet begun. This constraint indicates that Falcon Strike is not only about adopting lower-cost platforms, but also about expanding production and building inventories large enough to support prolonged operations.

The most distinctive aspect of Falcon Strike is the planned integration of aerial, surface, and underwater systems within a single organization. CENTCOM has not specified which maritime or submersible platforms will be assigned to the force, nor whether future partners will contribute their own equipment. That uncertainty matters because an aerial one-way attack drone, an autonomous surface vessel, and an underwater vehicle have different communication requirements, approach speeds, navigation methods, and targeting processes. Bringing them into a common operational structure therefore involves more than simply fielding a larger number of uncrewed systems.

In the Middle Eastern context, Falcon Strike could broaden CENTCOM’s options for sustaining military pressure without consistently relying on its most expensive platforms and munitions. In the Persian Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz, drones launched from partner territory or U.S. naval vessels could complement maritime forces monitoring Iranian activity and supporting the U.S. posture around Iranian ports. Surface and underwater systems could add additional approach vectors against naval facilities, port infrastructure, and coastal targets. This is particularly relevant after recent U.S. operations against Iran, during which CENTCOM has already employed one-way attack drones and uncrewed maritime systems. Falcon Strike could turn these separate operational experiences into a more structured capability with additional launch points and regional contributions. For U.S. forces, there is also a logistical dimension: assigning part of the surveillance or strike burden to attritable systems could help preserve combat aircraft, surface ships, and precision-guided missile stocks for missions where their specific performance remains necessary.

This approach is part of a U.S. regional posture that appears intended to remain in place over time. On August 13, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States had enough assets to maintain the naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, with ships able to rotate into and out of the region as required. Falcon Strike adds another element to that endurance-based approach. Rotating naval forces can sustain the conventional presence, while a multinational drone force could increase the number of systems available around key sea lanes and the Iranian coastline without raising the exposure of U.S. crews to the same extent. For CENTCOM, the issue therefore goes beyond introducing another category of weapon. The task force is intended to build, with regional partners, a distributed strike capability able to support prolonged U.S. operations, maritime control, and pressure on Iran while reducing reliance on a limited number of crewed platforms and high-value munitions.

Written By Erwan Halna du Fretay - Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Erwan Halna du Fretay holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and has experience studying conflicts and global arms transfers. His research interests lie in Security and strategic studies, particularly the dynamics of the defense industry, the evolution of military technologies, and the strategic transformation of armed forces.