single seat vs twin seat fighter aircraft

[samarsingh]

what's with the IAF's fascination for twin seat fighter aircraft....if a Russian pilot can manage modern Sukhois on his own, why do we insist on a double seat variant....all pros and cons will be appreciated..

thanks

 

[LETHALFORCE]

what's with the IAF's fascination for twin seat fighter aircraft....if a Russian pilot can manage modern Sukhois on his own, why do we insist on a double seat variant....all pros and cons will be appreciated..

thanks

for long range strikes deep in enemy territory or one can man the weapons while other focuses entirely on flying.

 

[Energon]

I think after the Kargil debacle the IAF oriented their procurements with an emphasis on strike air crafts. As lethalforce pointed out twin seaters heavy or MRCAs are highly effective.

 

[bhramos]

what's with the IAF's fascination for twin seat fighter aircraft....if a Russian pilot can manage modern Sukhois on his own, why do we insist on a double seat variant....all pros and cons will be appreciated..

thanks

while RuAF has bombers or Topol's or other weapons for deep strike missions, But IAF only depends fighter bombers. which need 2 pilots as Su-30MKI can fly continously more than 24hrs+ , the pilot needs to rest some time the other takes care off.
so we need to train double pilots. in the similar case of deep strike missions. RuAF uses Tu-22 or Tu-160.

 

[mayfair]

But it may be argued that for every aircraft lost in combat, we lose two pilots instead of one..loss of a trained experienced combat pilot in (in my opinion) a far greater loss than the loss of an aircraft..

 

[jackprince]

In a strike role the pilot flying the aircraft needs to be more cautious and alert, since he needs to fly lower than in fighter role and there's great danger of falling prey to ground fire. It would be very hard to concentrate on flying and as locate and destroy targets for single person. That is why Strike fighters generally are of two seaters. Even Russian strike fighters are two seaters - Su-24, Su-30 or Su-34. F-15E Strike Eagle is a two-seater.

Since India doubles the role of its multi-role fighters as fighter-bombers too, it is obvious why IAF prefers two-seaters.

 

[p2prada]

The Russians follow different rules of engagement compared to ours. The Russian Sukhois have different roles compared to our Sukhois. The Russians have Su-27s and Mig-31s for air superiority, Su-34 for strike, Mig-25 for recce, Su-25 for CAP etc. Each fighter has a role defined. If you are fighting the Russians you will know for sure which plane will do what. If you see a bunch of Su-27s flying around you will know for sure they will not hit you.

It is not the same with IAF. IAF asks for Multi role aircraft. We need one plane which can do Air superiority, strike, CAP and Recce using one platform. This requires one man behind navigation, target prioritization and other aspects while the other one does the flying and shooting.

The WSO(Weapon Systems Officer) will prioritize an aircraft, a SAM system and stick a camera out to click pics of tank formations while the pilot is killing the targets assigned. In long missions that can stretch for 10 hours of more. The WSO can take over the controls while the pilot goes to sleep and vice versa.

 

[samarsingh]

any talks of us procuring a strategic bomber, We have leased some from Russia in the past....