There are few public details of the weapon, but it is said to have the ability to find targets beyond the line of sight, including ones that suddenly pop up in front of it.
These features make the drones more capable than the variant being used by Russia against Ukraine’s cities and critical infrastructure.
The US military effectively pinched the idea from Iran because the weapon is cheap and much easier to make than a conventional missile.
“Costing approximately US$35,000 per unit, Lucas is a low-cost, scalable system that provides cutting-edge capabilities at a fraction of the cost of traditional long-range US systems that can deliver similar effects,” Captain Tim Hawkins of the US Navy, a Central Command spokesman, told the Warzone last year.
It is likely that the Lucas drones used to target Iran were ground-launched, but recent demonstrations by US forces have shown they can also be fired from ships.
The USS Frank E Petersen in the Middle East fires a Tomahawk missile as part of US airstrikes on Iran. Photo / US Navy
Black-painted Tomahawk missile
The new Tomahawk could be the first sighting of an upgraded Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST), according to the Warzone website.
Unlike its predecessor and other variants, the ship-launched cruise missile had a coating of black paint.
Analysts speculated that this could prevent radar detection or suppress infrared targeting. Normally, Tomahawk missiles are grey.
“We would expect this to be a low observable coating aimed at enhancing the survivability of the weapon, especially for strikes against maritime targets,” the Warzone wrote.
The darker paint could make it harder to see the ship-launched variant conceal itself against the waves as it skims low across the water towards its target.
Fabian Hoffman, a missile technology expert, wrote on social media: “Tomahawk’s lack of stealthiness has been noted by European officials from what I have heard, so that this exists makes sense”.
A low-resolution image of a black-looking missile was used to advertise Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST) on a slide show published by the Naval Air Systems Command as an overview of the missile.
The US has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years overhauling the Tomahawk, a weapon that first debuted in combat in 1991.
Yet there is no official confirmation that this is the first appearance of the upgraded MST.
Atacms successor
A video shared by the US military showed ground-based Himars rocket launchers firing off the latest short-ranged ballistic missile available to troops.
The precision-strike missile is the successor to the Army Tactical Missile System – otherwise known as Atacms – used by the Ukrainians in the war against Russia.
A fact sheet published by its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, claims the missile can strike targets at a range of around 500km.
While there is not a publicised top speed, its predecessor can travel towards a target quicker than 3220km/h.
The likely targets in Iran would have been air-defence systems, radar stations and other ground-based launchers.
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