Ken, LM claimed and claims F35 being superior in flight performance (FP) to 4th gen.
No one is saying anything about air-dominance, but specific metrics.
Very well, let's use your terminology. May ask what "specific metrics" did LM publish/present to claim F-35 would be equal in "flight performance" to F-16? Flynn certainly provided none such. I remind you that what you are calling "flight performance" was not a KPP for the F-35 program. And the F-35 partners jointly developed and all agreed on the KPPs.