Peter We - In a CAS mission, or most air-to-ground missions for that matter, the reduced range (or greater weight/cost for equal range) of a supersonic-capable aircraft is a disadvantage.
The PDF is quite clear given the page and line reference. The Harrier is designed and qualified to use external tanks; so far those are not available on the F-35. However, you'll note that even clean the Harrier covers 336 nm hi-lo-hi with a gun on board and 3,000 lb bombs; F-35B claims 450 nm hi-hi-hi with 3000 lb weapons and no gun.
And as you should know, the USMC will retain more than half of its Harriers through 2027.
SS - Nope. Just mentioning some discussions I have had and not making definitive claims. However, recall that RN performance is not always USMC performance, hence SRVL. Speaking of which, SRVL may be more sensitive to fouled-deck landing holds than VL.
Last edited by LowObservable; 12th Oct 2013 at 20:10.