LowObservable The "Harrier carrier" force on an LHA/LHD is imbalanced because the ship's primary/design mission, which is to carry an air+amphibious mobile force, is massively compromised by the offloading of helicopters. It's even worse on the new America and Tripoli, which (in a display of incredible stupidity) don't have well decks.
In the case of those ships, the well deck has been removed, and the innards arranged with more hangar space, and the ballast tanks associated with the well decks have been replaced with more aviation fuel - all because the V-22 and F-35B are larger than the aircraft they replace. But that leaves inadequate ship-to-shore capacity and later LHAs get the well deck back.
Increasingly, it appears that Marine doctrine is being driven by the need to justify the cost of the weapons, rather than the other way around.
It now looks like the America without the well deck will only be a 2 ship class. The second, the Tripoli, will have a smaller island improving flight operations. Looks like they will go back to having a (smaller than the WASP) well deck with the following ships.
It seems they realized the mistake, but I can see how they got there- with the emphasis on longer range maneuver doctrine the focus became more air heavy with the MV-22 and the F-35 being the main focus. Having a ship that could support more aircraft, and operate further away from contested waters made sense at the time to some- especially when there were "only" 10 CVN's in the mix. There have been fewer cases on needing to storm the beach in prior decades, and I think the manuever doctrine folks drank a bit too much kool-aid, and a more balanced approach has returned.
For a dedicated air heavy scenario she might have some utility, but she does seem to be a niche ship that will not be repeated.
The weapons driving the doctrine, or the other way around, is an interesting debate. The Marines have long championed manuever doctrine, and being able to go around or avoid a contested beach or LZ is still very much part of the mix. This helped drive the MV-22, the F-35 and the ultimately cancelled high speed amphibious personell carrrier.