Why Pilots Are Still More Important Than Technology

In his new article, “Inside the U.S. Air Force’s Plan to Make Sure the F-22 Raptor Dominates the Sky” writer Alex Hollings makes several controversial claims about the F-22 Raptor and the role of pilots that I think must be challenged. Firstly, he says that the F-22 is unquestionably the world’s best fighter, and to back that up he quotes a former Raptor pilot who says nothing in the air can touch this aircraft, including USAF F-15 Eagles. “The Raptor was so good that in 2002, three years before reaching operational service, former Eagle driver turned Raptor test pilot Mike ‘Dozer’ Shower and three of his F-22 flying peers wiped out 12 F-15Cs in less than two minutes in one of several air combat exercises that saw Eagles falling time after time to America’s newest bird of prey. The F-15 had never lost an air-to-air engagement to an enemy aircraft, with an unmatched air combat record of 104 wins and zero losses, but even the Eagle was all but defenseless when it came to engaging the Raptor.”

Hollings also quotes Colonel Shower on how technology has allegedly become more important than the skill of the pilot: “‘In an F-15 you’re [the] sensor operator, you’re working the radar; you’re the guy working this all out and managing the systems and putting together the 3D picture in your head. That’s the difference with the F-22 Raptor. It does it all for you… You could take four weapons instructors in an F-15 each and you could have some lieutenant who is ‘weapons clueless’ and he’s gonna find them all and kill them all. Then you put one really good guy in an F-15 against a Raptor and he’s still gonna get killed; there’s that much of a difference in technology.’”

I am afraid I just do not buy it, ladies and gentlemen, for as ace Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, who, with all due respect, had far more success in combat than Colonel Shower did, once said: “‘a more experienced pilot will always get the better of you, no matter what you’re flying. It’s dead simple.’” (p. 118) In the history of airpower, evidence suggests that the human element remains the most important factor, and for a fighter pilot like Colonel Shower to say otherwise reflects very superficial thinking, at least in my humble opinion as a civilian analyst. Moreover, he of all people should realize that stealth is just a marketing gimmick that can be easily defeated by older radars. Also, I would like to ask what will happen to a “clueless” USAF F-22 pilot who does not get enough hours and becomes dependent on the complex systems in the aircraft when they eventually and inevitably malfunction in combat?

 I do not know what motivated him to make such statements, but I say they must be questioned in open forums like this one, especially in this new age of drone wingmen. For now, I will take the word of General Yeager, who flew in three wars (World War II, Korea, and Vietnam) and once got five confirmed victories in one day. Why? Because, unlike so many pundits today, he was a man who actually understood the business of combat flying.

Roger Thompson is a Fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, a Research Fellow at Dalhousie University’s Centre for the Study of Security and Development, the author of Lessons Not Learned: The U.S. Navy’s Status Quo Culture, and a former researcher at Canada’s National Defence Headquarters.

Roger Thompson. Lessons Not Learned: The U.S. Navy's Status Quo Culture. Naval Institute Press. Kindle Edition.