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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)

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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)

U.S. unified combatant command responsible for U.S. military operations across the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia. Headquartered at MacDill AFB, Florida.

Operation Epic Fury

CENTCOM is the lead command for operation-epic-fury, the February 2026 U.S. campaign against Iran. As of April 2026, three U.S. aircraft carriers operate in the CENTCOM AOR (src-epic-fury-update-2026-04).

Counter-drone surge

jiatf-401 committed ~$350M of counter-uas capability to CENTCOM in just the first ~30 days of Operation Epic Fury, with more flowing under the “fragile” U.S.–Iran ceasefire (src-counter-drone-middle-east-jiatf-2026-04). The April 2026 deployment of the Ukrainian Sky Map platform to prince-sultan-air-base is the most visible C-UAS gap-filler.

CENTCOM UAP records in PURSUE Release 02

Per Newsweek (Castro & Robinson, src-newsweek-pursue-release-02-2026-05), Release 02 adds CENTCOM AOR encounters spanning 2018–2023, including a 2022 IR clip of four objects over water near Iran and additional Persian Gulf reports.

CENTCOM UAP records in PURSUE Release 01

pursue Release 01 surfaces several CENTCOM-AOR UAP records:

  • November 2023 Syria — “bouncy ball”: USAF personnel observed a UAP “shaped as a bouncy ball” for ~7 minutes; not deemed a threat (src-newsweek-luna-teases-disclosure-2026-05).
  • October 2024 Syria FMV — DoW-UAP-D32: 5-second full-motion-video clip showing a “misshapen and uneven ball of white light” with a “light/glare halo effect” at the top of the feed (src-space-com-pursue-video-trove-2026-05).
  • An additional 2023 Aegean-Sea-area report describes “multiple 90-degree turns at an estimated 80 mph,” a “super-hot” orb traveling ~20 miles, and 4–5 additional flaring orbs (src-fortune-aldrin-apollo-11-uap-2026-05).

First combat use of LUCAS (March 2026)

Per the Pentagon CTO via DefenseScoop (src-shield-ai-lucas-drone-swarm-2026-05), CENTCOM was the first command to use the LUCAS U.S.-built one-way attack drone in combat — during Operation Epic Fury against Iran. Pairing follow-on: shield-ai’s hivemind swarm-autonomy stack selected as LUCAS’s “AI pilot” in May 2026.

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