The weapons control officer (WSO) plays a very important role for the F-15E Strike fighter because all information is received through modern sensors on the aircraft.

“Two heads are better than one.” This adage seems to be true for the US Air Force’s F-15E Strike Eagle аttаck fighter – a two-seat fighter aircraft, in which the pilot sits in the front and the officer controls the weapons ( WSO – pronounced wizzo) sat in the back.

Colonel Eric ‘Dorf’ Ostendorf – who has 33 years of experience operating both F-15E Strikes fighters and F-111 Aardvarks jet bombers, said: “Having two members in the crew will allow division of complex tasks that modern fighter aircraft control tactics require. This squadron will certainly be able to handle more missions.

The F-15E Strike, also known as Mudhen, was developed in the 1980s as an improved version of the standard F-15 Eagle aircraft – intended for air combat missions. The F-15 Eagle is a very successful American air superiority fighter. This fighter has won many victories in air battles and has never been shot down by the enemy, which is considered a terror to the US Air Force’s opponents.

The F-15E Strike is designed to take advantage of all the strengths of the Eagle fighter line and has an additional air-to-ground аttаck capability, essentially allowing it to penetrаte enemy airspace, rain bombs, then That tries to fly out of the dangerous area. But the process of performing air-to-air and air-to-ground missions is very complicated and has a lot of work to handle, so Strike needs to have 2 crew members.

In an interview with Aviation Geek Club, a weapons control officer said: “The great thing about two-seat fighter aircraft is that we can divide tasks and act more effectively. The pilot in the front seat can control flight operations and refueling, while the WSO in the back seat can communicate with command, find targets and prepare аttаck weapons.”

WSO plays a very important role for the F-15E Strike because all information is received through modern sensors on the aircraft. Many Strike fighters carry both Snιper and Litening systems – high-tech machines that use infrared, video and lasers to gather intelligence, detect and identify ground targets, then That uses conventional weapons or GPS-guided weapons to take down the target.

The WSO cockpit has four screens that monitor threats, weapons and aircraft status, information from radar, electronic warfare or infrared sensors. With air-to-ground operations, the main task of WSO is to аttаck the enemy on the ground, especially when ground forces need support.

“WSO’s role is to find out what the enemy’s goals are as well as what the intentions of the commander of the forces on the ground are, then we will make a proposal to use weapons to destrоy or neutralize the force. opponent’s force. WSO will notify the pilot to drop the bоmb,” Mr. Lacie “Sonic” Hester, a US Air Force official, emphasized.

What makes the F-15E Strike different from other aircraft in the Eagle family is that it has darker camouflage paint and is equipped with two adaptive fuel tanks (CFT) under the fuselage, creating less drag. compared to conventional underwing tanks. These 2 fuel tanks can hold 2,800 liters of fuel, and have 6 weapon pylons arranged in 2 rows. These weapons can be air-to-ground missiles (both nucleаr and conventional), air-to-air missiles. However, this design makes the F-15E Strike heavier than other versions of the Eagle and limits its mobility.

The F-15E is not the only multirole fighter in the US arsenal. The US Air Force’s F-16 Vipers and the Navy’s single-seat F/A-18E Suρer Hornet fighters are also used for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. They only have one pilot controlling the entire operation. Therefore, there are some opinions that having an additional weapons officer is unnecessary, especially when the WSO does not receive formal flight training.

But reality proves the opposite. F-35E pilots said that thanks to coordination with WSO, they can increase аttаck and support capabilities. Pilot Richard “TAC” Turner, who participated in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, shared: “Pilots operating single-seat aircraft such as the F-35 and F-36 have their own limitations, regardless of the support they receive from modern machinery. It is difficult for them to control and filter the necessary data from sensors on the aircraft or from the communication system with the command station.”

“But WSO can capture all that information,” Mr. Turner added. We can briefly communicate with each other when we need to carry out an аttаck.”

Although WSOs do not undergo the same intensive flight training as pilots, their cockpits have controls similar to the front cockpits. In case of necessity, the WSO can control the flight on behalf of the main pilot. Pilot Turner said that there were cases where the pilot in front was disoriented or their control system had problems. WSO was able to control the plane and help the crew escape.