FA-18 - The answer to why the US did not go that way is fairly simple. The USMC made a priority out of STOVL, the USAF and USN decided in 1991-93 that the next thing they needed would be more A than F, and the USAF was going to get 440-some F-22s, more than enough to groin-kick any conceivable adversary for a while.
Then Clinton/Aspin/Perry emerged, waved their wands and shouted JOINTERIUS LOWCOSTICUS! which drove improved air-to-air farther to the back of the bus than before. Next, the
Professor-General Nordens of industry pulled out their wands and yelled EODAS INVINCIBILITAS! to convince more people that "maneuvering is irrelevant."
Read that Clarke story, by the way...