Salute!
Good points. Type.
OTOH, the roles and mission discussions played a role about going to production of the XL, especially when the Eagle mafia won the battle for the $$ with the Mudhen.
Without the endless deployments for interdiction and CAS that the Viper "enjoyed", the Guard and Reserve stateside units mainly trained for U.S. airspace sovereignty in the intercept role, and not for flying out 200 miles before the engagement.
I was not all that sold on the XL for CAS or CSAR, having flown 90% of my actual combat time doing that in the Dragonfly and Sluf. Then mainly interdection/SEAD at Red Flag in the Viper.
Thanks for all the comments, folks.
Gums sends...