June 1, 2006 at 4:18 am
This isn’t an actual comparison between the capabilities of these various aircraft but more of a question as to behind the design philosophy of the F-35.
Now I am going to make a few assumptions based on my limited knowledge of the F-35:
a.) It is a single seat aircraft
b.) It is predominantly a strike aircraft but still has A2A capabilities.
Now up until now the most capable strike aircraft have been mainly 2 seaters: the F-16I/F-15E/Tornado IDS/M2000D/F/A-18D etc. These aircraft still retain an A2A capability (more limited in the Tornado).
The advantage of a two seater is obvious – one is a pilot while the other is a Weapons Systems Officers. So basically one guy concentrates on flying the aircraft while the other concentrates on weapons delivery.
So does the single seat F-35 offer the same strike capabilities as the dual seat dedicated strike aircraft?