Well, it's one of the issues that was discussed at length many years ago. Unfortunately, the requirements lobby were over-ruled by the cost and design lobby. Sad, but true.
Incidentally, there was also an issue with the VTOL (as it was referred to in those days) being twin engined. Assymetric VTOL/VSTOL/STOVL/etc is a bit of an issue, as you might guess. As all the models had to be roughly the same with only the differences necessary to cope with CTOL, VSTOL and real Carrier, single engine became the mantra. Oh, and it made the company bids cheaper and their claims of reliability won faint hearts.