Good point re the cost though it only addresses the now and not the future.
Well it does if one compares the cost difference between paying navs to fly and paying them a pension against the cost of an avionics upgrade, both spread over the expected life of the frame in question.
Finding the money up front for an upgrade could be tricky though, and would, I suspect, take several years to reach service.
How many years has Tonka got left? 10 at a push? Could take 5 years for a fully capable avionics upgrade to hit the streets. Ain't gonna happen methinks.
Maybe they should pitch it to the current or next aerosystems course for their end-of-term presentation?
The E-3 should soldier on until '25. Again I doubt whether an upgrade would be in the offing unless it's extended beyond that date, which will probably happen but not get the green light for several years.
I'm pretty sure that a pilot could be trained on an ocu to do the job of a nav, certainly on E-3s, but there would be little to be gained, and much to be lost, by replacing existing navs with them.