> That's the issue, trying to make one airframe fill three drastically different roles and hence failing at all of them. Really, you can thank the the F-4 Phan

> That's the issue, trying to make one airframe fill three drastically different roles and hence failing at all of them. Really, you can thank the the F-4 Phantom II, F-16 and both versions of the F-18 (the A and C, which is a much larger aircraft) for this. All of these planes excelled as both fighter and attack aircraft, and showed it was possible to do both missions well enough.