Future Close Air Support / Attack Plane

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This is the Future Close Air Support attack aircraft. I designed this as the future replacement of the A-10. Yes, in a way this is a tribute to the A-10-it’s a beast and I loved working on that monster.

The A-10 has seen success in a CAS role in today’s conflicts, and it could be the best at what it does. However, it is getting old and a replacement is needed. I have read alot about close air support and I have tried to keep the advantages of the A-10 but also improve upon the design.

You may be familiar with the O/A-10, a two seat night strike variant that never made it out of the trial stage, this concept is the next evolutionary step of that animal. This creation’s cannon, much like the A-10’s GAU-8 Avenger, is its main weapon. I imagined a 40mm projectile, 4 barreled autocannon- with a high rate of fire in very small bursts. The second man/woman in the cockpit could do any number of duties as seen in other 2-man ships-like the F-15 strike eagle, etc.  The engines would have increased efficiency yet able to produce enough power to make 600 mph+ dashes when needed. But this plane is designed to fly low and slow- and to take a beating and keep going-just like her predecessor.

And, it was fun to make too.

Software used: (Google) SketchUp 7, Adobe Photoshop CS4