KB - If you had a USAF and Navy version only, the difference might be less - the 35-foot span limit (a Marine requirement) is a bear, with the wide body and quad tail layout, because you need lots of flap to get Navy-acceptable VApp.
With Rafale, the air force and navy clearly collaborated and (to some extent) compromised, although the AF today is probably happy to have a relatively smaller aircraft. But the canard delta is good for low VApp even with a small span (cf Gripen) and Rafale is MUCH lighter than F-35C.
However, the Frogs also realized that it was quite a complex task to balance two pressures: reduce the scar weight for the AF as much as possible, but maintain commonality. Result: Dassault invented and improved CATIA, the design software that almost everyone uses these days.