So the F-35 doesn't need the Aim 9X at all. There is some cost savings! Which they've already identified btw.
May I respectfully point out that a point of a high off-bore sight weapon like the AIM 9X is to
avoid the knife fight in the phone booth. The pilot looks, cues, and fires and then the missile does the maneuvering and closing with the target instead of the whole airplane.
It didn't look like it was immensely dangerous for the F-16.
May I ask how one comes to this conclusion? How many actual close-in dogfights has the F-16 engaged in over its life time? Being optimized (in the 70s!) for the close-in daytime, good weather dogfight and actually fighting that way are two very different things.
When carrying the Aim 9X the F-35 couldn't sneak up on the F-16 either.
May I ask how one comes to this conclusion? The F-35's stealth and its array of passive sensors make it more capable of "sneaking up" than just about any other fighter. (The F-22 possibly being excepted.)
Unless it carries it internally. But that precious space is limited. This is the contradiction in the design that is being pointed out.
It is only a "contradiction" if the user decides to use the F-35 primarily as a stealthy air-to-air platform. One more time, it is designed primarily as a penetrating air-to-ground platform with an excellent air-to-air capability. And stellar in long range air-to-air. And loaded up with external stores which compromises its stealth, F-35 is damn good, generally on par with a Super Hornet, which no one calls a slouch, much less "abysmal".