DARPA recently demonstrated its Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) prototype system on an A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft, marking the system’s debut on a U.S. Air Force platform. The tests, which involved 50 successful sorties near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, showed that a warfighter serving as a joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) on the ground could, in seamless coordination with a pilot, successfully command an airstrike with as few as three clicks on a tablet.
The PCAS program envisions more precise, prompt and easy air-ground coordination for close air support (CAS)—delivery of airborne munitions to support ground forces—and other missions under stressful operational conditions and in complex environments. It aims to do so through the development of a system that enables the sharing of real-time situational awareness and weapons-systems data, using technologies compatible with almost any aircraft. Among the system’s envisioned benefits is a capacity to use smaller munitions to hit smaller, multiple or moving targets while minimizing the incidence of friendly fire and collateral damage.
During the recent A-10 tests, ten of the sorties featured live-fire weapons engagements using a mixture of laser- and GPS-guided munitions—all of which were completed successfully within the six-minute goal the program has set. Coordination was enabled by PCAS-Ground software running on customized tablet computers working in conjunction with PCAS-Air, an onboard, automated targeting system. PCAS tactical datalinks facilitated data sharing between the pilot and JTAC to determine the timed release of precision-guided munitions.
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