For me the issue with this concept has always been about survivability since I flew many missions in danger close environments.. You won't necessarily be engaged by ZSU's slinging 23 mike mike or fixed 37 or 57 mm AAA most of the time but however you slice & dice it this is a very fragile airframe, I doubt its ability to absorb even the smallest amount of punishment and survive..Redundancy is next to zero and the fact they plant a WSO in the back seat just because it's inherent to the airframe design makes no sense.
Guess we will just agree to disagree on this one ...
Survivability is less of an issue in low intensity conflicts like we have now. This aircraft wouln't be used against a near peer enemy in the opening days. It's for COIN. Just because it has a back seat, doesn't mean it has a WSO. The F-16B/D has a back seat, but doesn't have a WSO. Having a back seat does offer flexibility however... Could be used as an ISR asset for example.
