Israel wants F15SE Silent Eagles in new batch from Boeing

[dapaterson]

Maybe it isn't the back seat where the problem is..

 

[SupersonicMax]

Without pretending to know what it is like to fly a fighter, I am pretty damned certain you do not have the first clue about how ACSOs are either trained or employed.

I have some idea of how ACSOs were trained back in the 2006/2006/2007 era as I was posted to 402 Sqn/CFANS while awaiting for my BFT.  It is, however, besides the point I am trying to make.

In other words, as amazing as you think you are- you are nothing special, as far as I am concerned. You have been selected for and trained to do a job. So have I. Your job is hard. So is mine. Quit assuming that fighters is some mystical dark art that could never be learned by anyone outside of a select few pilots. I am pretty sure that if our government gives us a multi seat fighter, ACSOs will do just fine running the crew 

I don't think I even hinted at that in my post. I merely said that I don't believe the RCAF has the capacity nor the will to set up a proper, from the ground up, WSO capacity.  Is it possible?  Probably.  Is the capability it adds relevant?  Sure, in some (but not all) missions we do.  But I do not think we would gain enough in terms of capacity, when compared to what we have now, to justify the money and effort.  We can do the job we are tasked to do very effectively without a second body in the aircraft thanks mostly to automation. 

Maybe it isn't the back seat where the problem is..

Of course not.  There is no backseat at the moment.  There can't be problems in a place that doesn't exist.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I tend to agree with you on this point- if the government gives us a two seat fighter (notice how I keep stressing who gets the final say on what fighter ie not the RCAF), we will likely not run our own WSO program, at least for the first few iterations and maybe not ever, depending on what the fighter is and how many we buy.

You will note that I am not advocating for two seaters over one seaters. Or vice versa. I really don't care. Either way, we will figure a way to make it work.

 

[Loachman]

Of course not.  There is no backseat at the moment.  There can't be problems in a place that doesn't exist.

Slick answer, Mav.