Had the Harriers been capable of doing the FI air defence, they would never have bothered extending the runway and then moving the real AD jets down there.
Sorry, I think the Harrier pilots, prior to the arrival of the mighty Phantom, may have felt they had been doing some rather sterling AD.
I was strongly in the F35 C supporters club as well as leasing/buying SuperHornets, a massively capable platform. We aren't getting either and I don't see the doom and gloom with the VSTOL option. My opinion is that fuel/range / endurance comparisons are largely misleading, much as they were when comparing Harrier to GR4.