a1, you obviously recognise the cogent reason for the development and deployment of ROVER?
It would be unfortunate that in the rush to "prove" the aircraft a vital & life saving piece of mission equipment would be omitted from the CAS role.
As for the "here I am, kill me" here's one for you- What if specific defences no longer look out but inwards, as has been previously allured to on this very thread. Think of the RF4's in vietnam using photo flash to illuminate but actually allowing missile and gun laying on their runs, instead of photo flash you have that nice big hot nlo back end that doesn't [relatively] move particularly well??? Achilles heel indeed.
And and finally to weapons. Instead of one trip you have to carry out multiple runs just to clear your target set for the night?
As it stands the best use for F-35 would be to use it's assets in a reconnaissance role ahead of any conventional package. However radius of action begins to come into play here....