EF-111 and EA6B are both absolutely relevant as they are excellent examples of past dedicated EW aircraft whose capabilities can now be done with less aircrew in the cockpit, as a result of advancements in technology and automation.
F-15EX has the same crew as EF-111; will be probably (relatively) less capable as an external stores only solution, but still a massive step up: fit the pods, add a person who understands what's going on and what those glasses guys even say(interesting who that will be).
EA-6B did significant part of jamming that is usually done by larger planes. Growler can't do that - one operator is part of the problem.
Now, PLAAF right now is in a somewhat superior position, since in Westpac it can do both (turboprop dedicated EW to the rescue)
In context of the original discussion for how "EW certainly requires more than one crew" the best way to view the trend of EW capabilities being distributed to more tactical aircraft is that more aircraft have EW capabilities and can take on the EW role than the past.
I'd argue against that, since practical scope of jamming did not go up - it's in fact still the opposite for most stealth planes (jamming types, spectrum and aspect) compared to that was/is normal before(gripen, rafale, typhoon, sukhois).
Modern planes, however, thanks to first LO and then offensive jamming through main array, manage to keep ever improving radars at bay.
I disagree, I think the single seat J-20 can absolutely function well as a dedicated EW aircraft, second only to the J-16D and that's only because J-16D has dedicated EW pods. But in terms of the in built ESM capabilities of each aircraft and the EW capabilities of their primary radar, I would be surprised if J-20 was inferior.
J-20 even has some tactical advantages due to being stealthy and better able to maintain higher speeds than J-16D which are absolutely consequential to the tactical dedicated EW role.
J-20 can only jam forward(i.e. - with a rate of closure to the target; closer we're to the optimal dead on course, the higher the rate), and only in normal fire control band.
Just for geometry reasons alone it's bad. It can't keep distance and jam - in fact, it can't jam non-stop at all.
It can't jam most of the spectrum, doing that's truly expected of jamming effects.
It can't effectively jam targets distributed spatially(diagram be damned).
It can't ensure safe extraction during escort, even against the target itself, because it just doesn't jam to the rear.
That's before all that specialist v pilot point, which was actually primary.
When you ask someone to do EW, ideally you want that person to understand what he's doing, and keep attention to doing that.
Normal fighter pilot won't be that person.
J-16D will have that specialist (that's a whole degree); and with a help of a personal driver (probably also more understanding what's going on here compared to a normal pilot) and a whole airframe, dedicated to the mission(at least 13(!) large directional jamming arrays instead of 1, for example).
Not that old, too - J-16D electronic suite is not just all-new, it's in fact newer than J-20 one...
Going back to the original point, which is my contesting of the "EW certainly requires more than one crew" statement (which I note for some reason you chose not to quote in your reply despite it making up about half of my word count in my last reply)
I struggle to keep the whole post on phone screen, with shortened quotations it's far more convenient. Smaller quotes don't mean i am cherry picking, the reply is still meant for the whole post. Sorry for this misunderstanding.
The above applies to J-20 single seater variants and the twin seater variant if the PLA should go for the latter.
(for the whole last paragraph)
My interpretation is that EW attack is just a new aspect of engagement capability of 5 gen fighter, unachievable in the past; it isn't a true dedicated EW.
Specialist platforms with specialist crews on board don't just do it better, they do
whole spectrum fighting thing.
Fighters in it are ultimately bypassers here, serving their own needs - 5th gen or no.
