Aircraft
Unmanned A-10 Studied for Future Close Air Support
The venerable A-10 Thunderbolt II is envisioned as an unmanned weapons delivery platform under the U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency Persistent Close Air Support program. (Photo: Darpa)
The venerable A-10 Thunderbolt II is envisioned as an unmanned weapons delivery platform under the U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency Persistent Close Air Support program. (Photo: Darpa)

Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are developing new systems and concepts for close air support using an unmanned version of the twin-engine A-10 Thunderbolt II. The companies received contracts worth $7 million each in April 2011 under phase one of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) program.