I'm especially intrigued by this statement from the linked article:
"The digital backbone, the way it integrates the sensor information and weapons information is very important to the high-end battle space that the Navy and Marine Corps will operate in the future," said Vice Adm. David H. Buss, Commander, Naval Air Forces.
Current Navy plans are to have considerably more F/A-18E/Fs than F-35Cs in their future air wings. It sounds to me that ALL these "very important" features could be included in those F/A-18s without excessive effort. I wonder if there are plans to do that.