Thirty-five thousand dollars. That’s the cost of the Pentagon’s new Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS for short), which made its combat debut this year in the conflict with Iran. Reverse-engineered from Iran’s Shahed drone design, the LUCAS is autonomous, long-range and capable of swarm strikes, all for about the price of a midsize pickup truck.
To put that in perspective, a Tomahawk cruise missile runs about $2.5 million. A Patriot interceptor? Around $4 million per shot.
I’ve long believed government policy is a precursor to change, and right now policy, geopolitics and technology are converging in a way I have not seen in my entire decades-long career in capital markets.
What’s emerging is a new defense-industrial revolution built on artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy.
$1.5 TRILLION DEFENSE BUDGET
Let’s start with the macro picture because the numbers are staggering. President Donald Trump’s prop
