M2,
I so wish I'd thought of that.
Lonewolf,
It's not so much what might be better at taking on the A-10 role (and I agree with your point about attack helos), it's more to do with the idea years ago that
"the F-35 will replace the US Air Force A-10s and F-16s, US Navy F/A-18s, US Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18s, and UK Harrier GR7s and Sea Harriers."
Spaz,
As one of the issues with the old hook design was trail angle, I think Moran and Butler may have missed a trick by not mentioning it in that interview (although possibly mentioned elsewhere in it). To be fair, given that the old hook wasn't missing every time, I hope it's reasonable to hope that the damper and shoe changes will do the trick.
Courtney