Yeah but at this point it's a do everything jet, and the new ones coming off the line are far from the lightweight fighter originally imagined.That's what the F-16 was supposed to be.
The last heyday of the 'high-low mix' in DoD was in the 70s, and it was based on the idea that we needed to be prepared for an unlikely but possible WWIII scenario and more likely but less-expensive interventions. The problem with that is you can't keep your gold-plated peer-competitor stuff on the shelf while you're landing in Beirut or escorting oil tankers. And you can't sideline all of your counter-insurgency, invade Ferblakkistan stuff as soon as it goes off with the varsity.
Just as a for-instance, there was pushback against deploying the Ticos to the Gulf during the Tanker Wars, because that's 'not what they were meant for.' The response from NAVCENT was something to the effect of, do you have another shooting war going on at the moment?
What I'm picturing is something that could be an advanced trainer, with enough air to air capability to shoot down a civilian jet, and the ability to drop a laser jdam with a targeting pod. That's what our top of the line jets spend all of their time doing other than existing and training for deterrence.