That said, I think the distinctions are somewhat artificial in many cases. It is interesting to note that both the M-346 and Yak-130 were born out of a joint design, yet the former is a trainer with a secondary light attack/fighter capability, while the latter is a light attack/fighter with a secondary trainer capability.
Agreed. And Korea's T-50 is another excellent example of such. It began life as a trainer and is being offered for the T-X program, but is already also being looked at for fighter duties. Another very interesting tie-up is SAAB and Boeing on the T-X. It looks like their "clean sheet" design will be based on the Gripen, which is similar to T-50 in size and probably performance. So while the base Gripen moves upward significantly in capability with the E model, it could also move "down" in missionization to become a very high performance trainer. We live in interesting times.