According to a report at the Air Force Times, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a project that will enable ground forces to control the weapons systems on an A-10 — or even control the A-10 itself as an “unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV).”

The A-10 could be manned or unmanned; an unmanned plane would loiter autonomously but would be under the control of an A-10 pilot at a ground control station when responding to an attack and for all takeoffs and landings.

The pilot would give “coordinated consent” for the launch of weapons; the JTAC would fire the weapons using a portable computer. With the computer, the JTAC would access the A-10’s sensors, punch in coordinates for its targeting pods and determine the predicted blast radius and effectiveness of the weapons.

While the concept is intriguing, it masks the true improvement to air support Read more