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F-16.net Editor Joined: Sep 23, 2003 Posts: 2862

Well, I think one can do a lot of generic strike work with 1 crew cockpits.

However the opinion of, for example Navy pros are different. They are totally committed to the two crew setup for attack jobs, and love the Super Hornet and I am sure will really love the two seat Block II as it gets into the fleet more. So, say what you will, there is a lot going for two crew cockpits for attack and consider that early on years ago when asked what they wanted in a JSF design, the USN said: 2 crew, 2 engines. So for the USN, JSF is a compromise. Israel uses their aircraft too. There is an obvious reason they setup some newish F-16s as two seat attack craft and the fact they use the strike eagle also.

Consider that over the horizon NCW is oversold as there isn't enough bandwidth now ( see the Bill Sweetman article ) in any known battlefield NCW, the information JSF can send and receive over the horizon won't be useful to all NCW nodes right away. All of this was supposed to make the 1 crew cockpit JSF easier to manage i.e. the sensor fusion when linked with NCW claim. So maybe the best that can be hoped for in highbandwidth work are local area networks for example how Block II Super Hornets talk to each other. Even they are limited in the quantity/bandwidth that they can pass to a non-Super. If anything USN will figure this out ( new Hawkeyes etc ). Others? USAF is dieing for funds so I'm not so sure. So the network limited network support for JSF at this time and into the known future is going to limit what the one man cockpit can do in task saturated attack scenarios. I guess we'll see. USN's backup is a two man cockpit. Israels backup is a two man cockpit.

Pull the lift fan and/or fuel space out and have a two seat JSF? Laughing

The article posted above is funny. Look at all the things JSF is downchecked for. IDF will think hmmmm well..... Ok.... since they don't have to pick up the full tab for the purchase. Although considering all the customization that article shows for an IDF JSF, I would think there is a lot of work to do. Consider also given their past political tech bleed baggage true or not, they may get the lowest config of L.O. tech on the jet.

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