This is inspired by seeing Top Gun: Maverick, where one fighter has a second person in the cockpit as a weapons system officer, while the other doesn’t. Does the other aircraft only have a one-seat cockpit?
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WSO is another person in the cockpit, on top of added situational awareness, its also another brain for certain situation requiring problem solving.
The position’s job basically like it says: Weapon system Officer. All the pilot has to do is focus on staying in the air, alive and on target. Everything else weapon related is handled by the WSO.
But theres also a issue: Having another person isn’t just adding another seat, its enlarging the cockpit (pretty big), adding more equipment, and what the WSO want, might not be the best option for the pilot.
This might seem pretty small things, but when you are performing air superiority missions, that extra person offers marginal pros not to mention with modern radar technology and controller offering combat support, WSO just doesn’t make sense.
A basic rundown on what requires 2 seater and what doesnt:
single seater: CAP, air superiority mission, alert state fighters.
double seater: CAS, SEAD, Bombing mission, Training.
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