An arm of the Defense Department is prepared to spend up to $60 million on research that would allow military tactical air controllers to call in air strikes from piloted or unmanned aircraft to support U.S. and allied ground troops.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency last year awarded two contracts of $7 million apiece, in cooperation with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, to defense industry giants Raytheon Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. to lead the $14 million first phase of the research. The agency’s budget includes options to spend $13 million on a second phase of the project and $27 million on a final stage.

GE Aviation, in Grand Rapids, Mich., is supporting Raytheon by providing electronics systems that control the weapons, GE spokeswoman Jennifer Villarreal said.

Project plans call for testing the technology from a manned A-10 attack plane.

A separate unit of GE Aviation, part of General Electric Co., is based in Vandalia and produces electric power systems for aircraft.

The agency’s goal is to reduce the time needed for military controllers on foot to call in strikes on multiple and moving targets. The technology would incorporate digital guidance and control, data links and advanced visualization tools to allow targeting of multiple targets simultaneously, project manager Stephen Waller said in email responses to questions from the Dayton Daily News.

If the Persistent Close Air Support project succeeds, the controller on the ground would be able to not only request the air strike, but control the firing of the weapons from an unmanned aircraft with the aid of the target-visualizing technology