In A-A mode, its look-down/shoot-down capabilities are great for finding targets against surface clutter (both water & land), allowing the pilot to find enemy aircraft & set the aircraft up for a better AIM-9 shot. It also features complete search track and automatic acquisition modes such as high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) velocity search, high/medium PRF range-while-search, single target track, and a track-while-scan mode that tracks 10 targets simultaneously and displays eight targets.
This increases air-air capability of the "-B+" even if AMRAAM isn't carried.
Then there are the A-G modes... which are the main reason the USMC wanted to install them...
For air-to-surface operations, the medium-range synthetic aperture radar provides Doppler beam sharpened sector and patch mapping, "real beam" ground mapping modes, as well as fixed and moving ground target track, air-to-surface ranging, terrain avoidance, and precision velocity update functions, and the radar features a sea surface search mode with clutter suppression.
Kinda knocks the fabled and ludicrously expensive stealth qualities into a top hat when it lights up though.
There must be more targeting methods available, perhaps like the Typhoon.