Griffon Aerospace's new MQM-172 Arrowhead to strengthen US response against Iranian Shahed drones.

On August 18, 2025, Daniel Beck, Airworthiness Manager and Program Manager at Griffon Aerospace, announced that their new drone, the MQM-172 Arrowhead, will be presented during the AUVSI Pathfinder Conference in Huntsville, Alabama, following its earlier display at the U.S. Army’s Maneuver and Fires Integration Experiment (MFIX) 2025 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The drone was described as a multi-role unmanned aircraft system with the capacity to function both as a high-performance reusable target platform and as a one-way strike asset if configured with an explosive payload.
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By fielding Shahed-like drones for red-air training and systems development, the US armed forces can refine layered responses, test cheaper countermeasures, and evaluate how radar, electro-optical sensors, and soft-kill effects perform against realistic threat surrogates. (Picture source: LinkedIn/Daniel Beck)

The MQM-172 Arrowhead features a compact delta-wing design, and company materials emphasize that the system was designed, tested, and manufactured entirely in-house. The program manager, Daniel Beck, also stated that Arrowhead was created to provide operational flexibility across multiple mission sets, and images released from the demonstration showed a form resembling the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 loitering munition. The MQM-172 Arrowhead has been introduced as a modular and adaptable platform capable of supporting different operational roles. Its payload bay is designed to carry up to 100 pounds (about 45 kilograms), allowing integration of surveillance packages, electronic warfare modules, or warheads depending on mission requirements. Launch options include catapult systems or mobile platforms, supporting both field training and combat-like use cases. The system is intended to serve as a flexible testbed to simulate adversary drones and to support air defense training, while also being adaptable to loitering munition roles. The company emphasized that this dual functionality aligns with current U.S. needs to both test defenses against low-cost attritable threats and develop equivalent systems that can be employed for tactical strikes in contested environments.

Griffon Aerospace, based in Alabama, has built a track record in the unmanned systems industry with more than 12,000 UAS produced and delivered to U.S. and international customers. The company specializes in designing, testing, and manufacturing drones for both civil and military applications, with a strong emphasis on modularity and cost management. Its products have included various target drones and unmanned platforms that support air defense training, surveillance, and experimental projects. The MQM-172 Arrowhead adds to this established portfolio and represents the latest in Griffon’s line of adaptable unmanned systems, developed under its approach of in-house engineering to allow greater control over production cycles and adaptation to evolving user requirements.

The Arrowhead’s resemblance to the Shahed-136 has been widely remarked upon. The Shahed-136, also known in Russian service as the Geran-2, is a long-range loitering munition developed by Iran’s Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA) and Shahed Aviation Industries. It carries a warhead of up to 90 kilograms and has an estimated range of 2,000 to 2,500 kilometers, allowing it to be used in strategic strikes on infrastructure and military assets. The system relies on simple materials and commercial components, making it inexpensive to manufacture in large numbers. Russia has adopted the type and localized production in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan, with targets set for thousands of units produced monthly. A smaller variant, the Shahed-131, known as Geran-1 in Russian use, features a reduced range of about 900 kilometers, a warhead mass of 15 kilograms, and uses a Wankel engine derived from Chinese components.

The first reason many drones are inspired by the Shahed-136 is its manufacturing feasibility. Its delta-wing structure, low-powered piston engine, and relatively unsophisticated navigation systems allow it to be reproduced at scale with limited industrial requirements. This accessibility means that even states with constrained defense industries or smaller defense budgets can produce or adapt similar systems. For developers of target drones and training platforms, adopting a Shahed-like configuration provides realism for testing air defense systems against the same shapes, radar cross-sections, and flight profiles currently used in real conflicts. The Arrowhead, in this respect, functions as a surrogate to train U.S. and allied forces against Shahed-type threats while offering a potential secondary function as a strike asset.

The second reason is the economic imbalance such drones create in modern warfare. Countries defending against Shahed-136 attacks have been forced to fire expensive interceptors to stop drones costing a fraction of the price, creating a cost-exchange ratio that favors the attacker. The Russian use of Shaheds in Ukraine has demonstrated that these drones can saturate air defenses by flying in large numbers and overwhelming radar and missile batteries. This effect compels defenders to maintain constant readiness, which drains resources and exposes vulnerabilities. Developing Shahed-like drones in the United States, such as the MQM-172 Arrowhead, allows armed forces to test interception tactics, refine layered defense strategies, and evaluate the performance of both kinetic and electronic countermeasures under realistic conditions.

A third reason is the operational flexibility inherent in loitering munitions. Unlike traditional missiles, drones such as the Shahed-136 can remain in a target area for extended periods, conduct surveillance, and attack when a suitable opportunity arises. They can also be used in saturation attacks, as decoys, or in mixed formations with other drones or missiles to complicate enemy defenses. Their use has been documented across multiple conflict zones, including Ukraine and the Middle East, where Iranian-supplied or locally modified versions have been used against energy infrastructure, air defenses, and logistical hubs. This adaptability makes loitering munitions highly attractive to state militaries and non-state actors alike, reinforcing their influence as a model for new developments in other countries.

The United States has also introduced another drone inspired by the Shahed family, the LUCAS (Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System), developed by Arizona-based SpektreWorks. Known also as the FLM 136, it is marketed as a low-cost, modular drone designed to simulate and counter Shahed-class threats. Technical details indicate a service ceiling of about 15,000 feet, an endurance of up to six hours, and a range of 444 nautical miles, with multiple payload bays supporting surveillance, electronic warfare, or explosive charges. It can be launched from trucks or by rocket-assisted takeoff and is designed for integration into mesh communication networks, making it suitable for swarm tactics and distributed operations. Other countries have developed their own Shahed-inspired systems, including China with its DFX-50 and ASN-301 loitering munitions, Belarus with the locally produced Nomad, Türkiye with the Azab T150 and T200, Israel with the Delta-wing RS2 used in training squadrons, and Ukraine with the “Hupalo” drone for air defense training. Each of these systems demonstrates how the Shahed-136 has influenced both operational strike assets and training surrogates in multiple national defense sectors, and the Arrowhead joins this broader pattern as one of two U.S. examples built in this mold.