NELLIS, Nev., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- DARPA's recent demonstration of its prototype Persistent Close Air Support system showed that future airstrikes can be ordered with as few as three clicks on a handheld tablet.
The system was tested on an A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, also known as the Warthog, conducting 50 successful sorties near the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. This marked the system's debut on a U.S. Air Force platform. The system is designed to deliver airborne munitions to support ground forces in combat.
DARPA's program aims for the technology to evolve to become more accurate and easier to use, keeping stressful operational conditions in mind.
This development in close air support technology could change how airstrikes on the battlefield are ordered and conducted. Currently, strikes are done through a coordination of pilots, forward air controllers, and joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs). To deliver a strike, all parties involved must be focused on one target at a time, with the process involving voice directions and paper maps. PCAS systems, however, can digitally link aircraft to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to call in an airstrike, and improve support for ground units.
"We have shown that a flexible architecture and extensible technology toolsets are the key to making groundbreaking improvements in air-ground coordination," DARPA program manager Dan Patt said in a statement, "these and other tests results suggest PCAS-like approaches have the potential to provide an unprecedented synchronized understanding of the active battlefield."
DARPA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, and is responsible for researching, developing, and testing new technologies for military use. It has an annual budget of about $2.8 billion.
