Originally Posted by
Pure Pursuit
The FAF operate their Rafales very, very well indeed. Their MC will more often than not be found sitting in one of the back seats, running the mission without having to try and lead his four ship.
Equally, the Super Hornets thoroughly embarrassed the Typhoon guys out on exercise recently, not least down to the flexibility that 2 seats offer. Pilot in the front concentrating on the air picture whilst the guy is able to prosecute ground targets at the same time. They are significantly better at multirole than Typhoon is.
Sensor fusion is much improved now and both F22 and F35 probably take away the need for a guy in the back but, I think Typhoon could have done with someone in the back on multirole stuff. I’m sure the Typhoon mates will disagree!!
Interesting. I remember being told that the typhoon pilot could easily handle the job of a back seater with modern software and equipment. Furthermore, I had been told that trials had been carried out which showed the ability of the pilot to handle more than one UCAV and fly his own mission at the same time. Guess the promises made have still some way to go before being reality.