How is it at CAS - loiter time, ordnance payload, survivability in a high AA threat area? I'm not trying to be mean to the F16, it is a real little hot rod fighter and one of my personal favorites. But the role is CAS, not air superiority. And apparently the F22 is the new undisputed world champion in that arena.
I still think a sh*tload of relatively inexpensive drones - locally controlled, remote controlled from afar, semi-autonomous or a mixture of the three - combined with some lesser number of high tech manned aircraft is the way to go. Or develop stand off munitions good and accurate enough that "CAS" platforms never get within 5 miles of the FEBA (do they still call it that?)
With the state of AA anything that flies and can be seen or painted is going to get shot down eventually. Super $$ high $$ tech $$ is great but all wars are wars of attrition and the lower to the ground you go the higher that attrition rate is likely to be. Keep the super high tech stuff up high. Down low use a huge amount of "good enough" stuff that can be manufactured in sufficient numbers to replace the inevitable losses and not double the national debt in the process. And, save a bunch of expensive pilots' lives in the process.
