Originally Posted by
Not_a_boffin
History has shown that trying to make one type fit both land-based and carrier-based is rarely successful. .
Cease of talking the merde du taureau, espece de rosbif!
Srsly, Dassault did a pretty good job on the Rafale, in terms of balancing cost-driving differences (different parts assembled in different structures) against leaving carrier-related "scar weight" in the landbased airplane. The challenge of optimizing the design with a lot if iterations on a reasonable time period was one reason that they developed CATIA, which has also done well in terms of keeping the Dassault family off the breadline.
It also definitely helped that the AdlA had a tradition of relatively light and efficient fighters.
In the case of NGAD and F/A-XX, a check of public sources indicates that the mission requirements are very different. What we don't know is the extent to which the Pentagon has managed to ensure that both new programs (and the F-35 upgrades) use common technology, but given the classification levels I'm not optimistic.