The front page of the Stars and Stripes reports, "Clone War."
The photo here shows the MOM 172 drone, which is similar to Iran's Shahed 136, which caused significant damage during the Ukraine war.
The U.S. Air Force is seeking proposals from industry to obtain up to 36 reverse-engineered copies of the Shahed-136. The U.S. Air Force is looking for reverse-engineered copies of Iranian attack drones.
The U.S. Air Force is seeking some clone drones. A recent request for proposals asked industry to replicate an Iranian aircraft that has caused serious damage in the Ukraine war and elsewhere. Sixteen of these drones are not enough to match the firepower of Iran or Russia, which is mass-producing this weapon, once firing as many as 140 Shahed variants per day at Ukraine.
According to a federal document released earlier this month, the U.S. Air Force needs to purchase at least 16 one-to-one reverse-engineered copies of the Shahed 136, with an option to buy 20 more. Experts say, on the contrary, the U.S. may want to use them for testing and training, highlighting the growing threat posed by cheap drones.
It is estimated that these drones cost between $20,000 and $50,000 each, cheaper than most long-range attack drones, and have played a key role in Iran's layered attacks on Ukraine, where they are often used.
This low-cost, single-use attack drone first appeared on the battlefield six years ago and has become Iran's main weapon. A Ukrainian officer demonstrates a thermobaric warhead from a downed Shahed 136 drone launched by Russia in a research laboratory in an undisclosed location in Ukraine.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841114384725004/
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