Florida fishing charter makes an unexpected catch: A US military drone

Florida Charter Crew Pulls Military Drone From Gulf Waters

Healfromzero.com – A routine offshore fishing trip near Florida’s panhandle took an unusual turn Saturday when passengers aboard a Pensacola charter boat spotted a military drone floating in the water. Instead of the speckled trout, redfish, flounder, mackerel and sharks common to the area, the group recovered an unmanned aircraft believed to be an FLM 136, a US-made version of Iran’s Shahed-136 design.

Hot Spots Charters shared images of the discovery on Facebook, showing the drone laid across the front of the boat. In one photograph, the aircraft occupies nearly the entire bow, dwarfing the more familiar items normally brought aboard during a day on the water.

Charter captain Daniel Arsenault said the crew found it by coincidence while traveling offshore.

“Riding along offshore and saw it floating,”

Arsenault also posted a lighthearted message after the trip, inviting anyone missing a drone to contact the charter operation.

“Great 6 hour today with this crew! If anyone is looking for their drone please call Hot Spots!”

Test Article Lost Near Eglin Air Force Base

The find was made in waters near Eglin Air Force Base, a major military installation in the Florida panhandle and the home of the US Air Force’s 96th Test Wing. The wing carries out testing and evaluation work involving aircraft, weapons and related systems, making the surrounding region an important area for military development activity.

An Air Force representative confirmed that a test item had gone down and that a drone was missing from Eglin’s inventory, without identifying the specific model.

“I can confirm that we were doing a test and the test article went down,”

The recovered aircraft appeared damaged. Images from the charter company showed its nose section missing, along with the rear propeller. Those details are consistent with an aircraft that had been through a hard landing or impact before ending up in the water, though no further account of the test or the drone’s path was provided.

Hot Spots Charters later posted that the device had been collected.

“The black suvs came and got their drone, all is good!”

A Low-Cost Attack Drone Design

The aircraft appears to resemble the FLM 136, part of the US military’s Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, known as LUCAS. The Air Force announced late last year that it had developed versions of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136, a one-way attack drone that has become a prominent feature of recent conflicts involving Ukraine and Iran.

The Shahed-136 is often described as a “kamikaze” drone because it is designed to strike a target rather than return for reuse. The LUCAS program applies that general concept to an American-built system intended to provide a relatively inexpensive unmanned attack option.

Arizona company Spektreworks manufactures the drones. The aircraft measure 9.8 feet, or 2.9 meters, in length, with an 8.2-foot wingspan and a listed weight of 70 pounds. Its compact dimensions help explain why the vessel’s crew could bring it aboard, although the drone still filled much of the boat’s forward deck.

US Central Command said in early March that LUCAS drones were being used in the war with Iran, describing the systems as delivering American-made retaliation. Their reported use highlights the growing importance of lower-cost unmanned aircraft in modern combat, where forces seek systems that can be produced and deployed more quickly than larger, more complex platforms.

Drone designs modeled on the Shahed-136 have attracted attention in part because they can be difficult to detect and counter. Small, low-flying aircraft may present a different challenge from conventional crewed planes or larger drones, particularly when used in significant numbers. The development of a US counterpart reflects how widely the basic design has influenced military planning.

An Unforgettable Catch of the Day

For the anglers aboard the charter, the discovery prompted humor as well as surprise. Comments on the company’s social media post treated the military hardware as though it were an especially strange addition to a fishing haul.

“Fun fight but they’re super bony and taste like avgas,”

Another commenter asked:

“Aren’t those strictly catch and release?”

The jokes underscored the contrast between a recreational fishing excursion and an encounter with equipment connected to military testing. For a charter operating out of Pensacola, the waters can offer all manner of expected catches, but a 70-pound unmanned combat system is unlikely to appear on any standard fishing report.

The drone has since been returned to military custody, ending an episode that briefly placed an experimental defense asset alongside the day’s far more traditional catches.