What are your thoughts? I guess it’s a good option for airframes that would otherwise end up as scrap or shot-down debris in some desert. Plus nobody would care if they were lost. Although I don’t know how reliable they would be in the long run.
It’s not the first time though, it has happened before as american planes were converted to unmanned for use as remote controlled weapons against heavily defended german targets, albeit for one use only.
DARPA launches search for unmanned A-10 replacement
By Stephen TrimbleThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency could demonstrate within two to three years a new unmanned aircraft designed to provide aerial cover for troops in close proximity to enemy forces.
Proposals from industry are requested by DARPA by 21 February to demonstrate in 2012 or 2013 an unmanned component for a next-generation close air support system. The complete system may eventually assume a role now traditionally served by the Fairchild A-10 and other manned fighters, such as the Boeing F/A-18 and Lockheed Martin F-16.
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DARPA’s solicitation, dated 29 January, seeks both purpose-built unmanned systems for close air support, as well as unmanned versions of manned fighters, including the “QF-4, QF-16 and UA-10”. The QF-4 and QF-16 designates target drone versions of the original fighters, while the UA-10 is presumably a reference to an unmanned version of the A-10.
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February 12, 2010 at 7:49 pm