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My name's Dave Murphy.
I'm a air combat office on the F/A and F Super Hornet.
My name's Rick Peapell.
I'm a pilot on the Super Hornet here
at RAAF Base, Amberley.
With this Super Hornet, it's one of the most advanced
multi-role fighters that we have pretty much
anywhere in the world.
The technologies and the sensors that are in that
airplane mean that we can simultaneously target by air
and ground targets at the same time.
With one person in the cockpit,
that gets very difficult.
So having a dedicated guy in the back seat means that we
can exploit the across full capabilities.
And that's pretty much what Dave does.
In general, Dan, it's my job to use all the sensors that
are on the aircraft, to make tactical decisions, to ensure
the success of our mission.
The old term in the F-111, I guess, was navigator.
And it's definitely not a navigator role anymore.
It's a lot more involved than that, which I guess is why
we're now called air combat officers.
Bottom line, this jet is the most advanced combat aircraft
in the region.
And the capabilities of the jet surpass the capabilities
of one person.
So therefore, having two people in the jet allows us to
achieve the capability--
realise the full potential of the jet.
One crew member maxes out.
That's the most that they can achieve.
Whereas if you've got two crew members there, then the front
seater can be targeting an enemy aircraft.
And myself, as the ACO in the back seat, I can be finding
the target on the ground that we were meant to be hitting
and locate that and releasing guide
weapons under that target.
Because both cockpits can essentially run the entire
jet, apart from Murph not being able to fly from the
back seat, we can share the roles.
We can hand off roles if one of us is maxing out.
Having an ACO in the back seat means that we can move tasks
around and move them forward and back in the cockpit.
So that while the pilot is dealing with an air threat or
some other surface threat, the ACO in the back can be dealing
with prosecuting surface targets, talking to the army
guards on the ground, and essentially achieving two
different roles at the one time.
However, we have specialised roles in the cockpit that
clearly I am flying the airplane.
But when it comes to weapon delivery and that area, that
is specialised from the backseat alone, capable of
doing it in the front.
And I could take those sensors and use it.
That is Murph's specialty.
And that's where employing the sensors and employing the jet
tactical use is I guess where the ACO is important.
The way the sensors are set up in the back seat, it just
enables me to have kind of a bigger picture situational
awareness of what's going on in the battlespace.
So that's probably why the ACO is better positioned as more
of a mission commander role.
The reason I do that is because I have all that
information from all the sensors on the aircraft, and
information fed into me from external sources, as well.
Not just my own aircraft.
All that information fused together and can use that
information to make the tactical
decisions for the mission.
Good fast jet air crew, in general, whether
that be pilot or ACO.
Rick was flexibility and coolness under pressure
because the tactical situation that you're faced with is so
dynamic and changes so rapidly that you might have this
perfect plan in your mind.
You're going to do this, this, then this.
And suddenly something happens, and that plan has to
go out the window.
And you, in very quick time, have to come up with plan B,
C, D, or whatever.
So I would say, one of the biggest keys is that coolness
under pressure and flexibility and adaptability.
Our job, although it is fun to fly really fast jets,
is more than that.
And it's probably not something that we think about
as being a fun thing.
It is certainly more effective having two
people in the cockpit.