ARES: The Light Attack Aircraft America Needed (But Never Happened)

Dave Majumdar

Security,

It only flew in the movies. 

While the U.S. Air Force’s OA-X program is once again coming to the fore as an alternative to using high-end jet fighters against poorly armed insurgents, the idea is not a new one.

While the last iteration of the concept came in 2008, in earlier years the U.S. Army led the charge to field a new light attack aircraft under the Low Cost Battlefield Attack Aircraft (LCBAA). Though the program never reached fruition due to political infighting between elements within the Army and the United States Air Force, legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan build the Scaled Model 151 Agile Responsive Effective Supports or ARES demonstrator for the effort using his own money.

“A design study was performed by Rutan Aircraft Factory in 1981 for such an aircraft. Its mission goals were low-altitude, close air support, with long endurance, and with adequate field performance to operate from roads,” as Scaled—now owned by Northrop Grumman—notes on its website. “Scaled followed up with the concept, and ultimately decided to build a demonstrator aircraft with internal funds. The ARES first flew on February 19, 1990.”

The Ares was a highly innovative design that eschewed high technology for the sake of simplicity and maintainability—not to mention cost. The light jet was built around a Pratt & Whitney JT15D turbofan that provides 2,950lbs of thrust and is armed with a General Electric GAU-12/U 25mm five-barrel rotary cannon.

One of the unique features of the aircraft is that the engine and the inlet are offset eight degrees to port while the fuselage is offset to starboard of the wing centerline. The reason for the odd configuration is to ensure that exhaust gasses from the  GAU-12/U are not ingested into engine. The unique feature also helps to cancel some of the recoil from the gun. “During November of 1991, tests of the GAU-12/U gun system installed in ARES were performed, with outstanding results,” as Scaled notes on its website.

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