On the subject of MSOs, a couple of thoughts......
Firstly BEagle doesn't have a track record of being too in love with WSOs, he points out their errors with glee and takes the mickey on numerous occassions......(but maybe he doth protest too much, maybe he does have a sneaking admiration?).
BEagle made the following comment...."Other air forces who thought that an 'Operator' would be sufficient in 21st century tanker aircraft soon realised that they were wrong. Whereas their ex-FJ or ex-C130 navigators were ideal MSOs." Are we once again so arrogant as to believe we don't need to learn lessons from elsewhere?
I'm not saying that many WSOps wouldn't be capable of the job, I'm sure they would. Hopefully they will even get the chance....
Why don't we adopt the following approach? See what surplus aircrew we have post SDR (both WSO and WSOp) - and how long they have left in the RAF. If someone has say 10 years left then you either have to make them redundant or gainfully employ them. For those we elect to retain, start the MSO cadre with a mix of both WSOs and WSOps. Gain some experience with the fleet, and as the source of underemployed WSOs/WSOps start to run out decide exactly what, in terms of rank/training you need to recruit off the high street to replace them with...... Simples!
Reference Wrathmonks comment - I'm sure someone one told me that SACs were trained to operate radars and sat in the back seat of Javelins, but maybe I was being wound up, and I can't be bothered to try a google search on the matter.