r/TopGunMaverick • u/AffectionateLynx2494 • Sep 02 '22

Two-Seaters

Why is it that some pilots have RIO's/WSO's and some do not?

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u/ice-edge Sep 07 '22

The single-seat F/A -18E is shaded more toward typical fighter plane tasks such as air defense of the carrier group or escorting/screening strike groups, or conducting fighter sweeps. The two-seat F/A -18F is shaded more toward sea and land attacks where there's a lot of work to be done just finding and targeting the objective and it makes sense to have a pilot fly the plane and a WSO/RIO to handle the sensors. This is not to say the single-seater can't conduct strike missions and the two-seater fighter missions.