Old Fella. No navigator is ever carried on the J in the tactical roles. The two pilot's run the show themselves. The only times nav's were "kind of" used was during the initial JPADS OT&E as a PADS operator. The ABNOPS standard was re-written about 5 years ago and dumbed down to the current level to allow quicker training. The test will be when they take a J to Red Flag or other high tempo exercise and see if it works in these roles. The USAF and RAF are still running around with Talon II's or C130K's on this exercise.
I agree about the cost of 2 tech's to be honest with the loss of two bod's on the flightline. However, since the Sea King at Nias crash, the number of jobs that a FENG's is legally signed off to fix has been drastically reduced and the H requires a rescue just as often.