ORAC,
The USN disagree, perhaps the world has moved on again......
This is now where the philosophy differs between the USAF and the USN for the next fighter/attack aircraft. IMHO, the next round will evolve two distinctly different aircraft, one for each service that matches their individually identified missions.
From what I have read, there is no mention of a future Marine style F-35B which IMHO, doomed both the A and C versions to less than optimum capability. I hopefully imagine the US DoD may have learned a lesson once again, forgotten from the years ago 1960s fiasco.