Air support could come from unmanned A-10s

[unhappycamper]

An unmanned version of the A-10 could be flying demonstration flights by 2014.


Air support could come from unmanned A-10s
By Scott Fontaine - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jul 31, 2010 12:22:30 EDT

An unmanned A-10 overhead and a joint terminal attack controller on the ground with the firing controls in his hands.

It’s not possible now, but it will be in the next few years, theoretically cutting response time dramatically and reducing errors in close-air support strikes.

The Pentagon’s advanced research arm wants an aircraft 30 miles from a firefight to be able to attack within six minutes of a request by a JTAC. The airman would access the plane’s targeting sensors, enter coordinates to multiple targets and send ammo flying.

Officials with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency expect to award a contract for the venture later this year; a live-fire demonstration is proposed for the last quarter of fiscal 2014. The contractor will modify an A-10 already in the fleet.

The new take on strikes, called persistent close-air support, won’t mean the end of fighter pilots, project manager Stephen Waller, a former F-15 and F-16 pilot, assured defense contractors and military personnel at a Washington-area conference in late July.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. I worry about unmanned aircraft

computers in the planes could turn nasty.

[haikugal]

2. Warthogs are awesome planes

but I hate to see them used like this.

[sfwriter]

3. They are weapons....

I'm not sentimental about them.

My fave, the F-4, has largely been used as a target drone for the last decade. Talk about humiliating! At least these planes will still be taking it to the enemy and breaking new ground.

[haikugal]

7. ??

You tell me I'm sentimental and then talk about your humiliation about your 'favorite'...odd and funny...yes they are all war machines and I really don't like the idea of unmanned warfare.

[sfwriter]

14. Sorry... my mockery was too subtle there...

[haikugal]

15. If you mean your mockery of me I wonder why you found it necessary.

Or do you mean your mockery of yourself? In this medium it's hard to know. Anyway the Warthog was tested using my house and it's an impressive plane and I think it's beautiful.

[HEyHEY]

17. Yeah war machine or not, I respect the engineering, that's for sure

[Sherman A1]

12. Bring back the

B-36

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Skynet: coming soon to a war near you. nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. I say we ban all computers.

Never trust anybody who uses a computer.

[Ron Green]

6. The more unsporting and unfair our technology makes warfare,

the easier it will be to make war.

[proteus_lives]

8. I disagree with that.

History shows that that people hacked each other to death no matter what weapons where used.

[hack89]

9. Since war is not a game, it should not be fair. nt

[Ron Green]

11. I'm not saying it should be fair. I'm saying it shouldn't be.

And my opinion is that the easier it is for the more powerful to kill the less powerful (without themselves being killed), the more likely they'll do it.

[L0oniX]

10. Let's spend more.

asscarrots

[Bigmack]

13. Great idea!... the fucking drones ....

aren't killing enough civilians.

More robot warriors... cool. The ultimate outsourcing of what remains of our morality and humanity.

[lib2DaBone]

16. You mean they could program a plane to fly into a building if they wanted to?

Impossible.. it can't be done.






:sarcasm: