Yeah Chris and others, the A-7 was truly called Sluf for Short Little Ugly "Feller". And staying off-topic a bit, we pilots in the first F-16 unit voted on "Viper". USAF didn't want a jet named after a reptile, so it became "Fighting Falcon" ( a civilian jet already had taken "Falcon").
The Sluf stick had a grip which contained force tranducers, and they used one for the prototype Viper FBW system with extra transducers. What they did was provide "augmented" commands to the control surfaces, and on check flights I could hold the stick between my knees and command roll and pitch by twisting the grip. So we were well on our way to FBW bacg in the late 60's. Pretty sure the Hornet has similar implementation, although their stick moves like the 'bus.
As Doze has iterated, pure "force feedback" has been absent for many years except a few implentations that use cables or pushrods for a limited number of surfaces. So anyone wishing for the "old days" are SOL. Only the Phantom and VooDoo had a pnematic bellows that kept you from pulling too hard at ridiculous high Q that the heavies cannot imagine, heh heh. Otherwise it was springs and things resembling shock absorbers to slow down rates and keep us from ripping the wings off.
I am still shocked that the AoA limits on the 'bus aren't active as long as the sensors are deemed reliable. So I learn a lotta stuff much of my time here.
Secondly, the overspeed "protection" features seem excessive, but the critical mach seems to be the "driver". I have also learned here just how close to edge of the envelope the thing flies. Surprised me, as we cruised well below our critical mach in the sub-sonic A-7 and A-37.