Aurora Flight Sciences has been selected to work on a U.S. military project for an unmanned version of the A-10 close support aircraft.

Its selection as a team member in the Persistent Close Air Support program of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency was made by Raytheon, which is leading the effort.

Aurora, with extensive experience in robotic aerial vehicles, will be responsible for developing the demonstrator aircraft.

"Aurora's selection by Raytheon to develop critical air vehicle technologies for the DARPA PCAS program is a major step in our relationship, which began with the Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle and Loiter Attack Missile programs in the 1990s," said John Langford, Aurora's president and chief executive officer.

"We are looking forward to working closely with Raytheon on a wide range of unmanned systems technologies in the future."

For the PCAS program, Raytheon envisages development of technologies to reduce the timeline for close air support with "improved coordination among controllers, airborne sensors and weapon systems.

Other members of the PCAS team include Rockwell Collins and GE Aviation.