That's no debateable.
No machine can be bastardized to perform as well as one built specifically for the task.
Simply can't be done, and no amount of corporate mealy-mouthing will make it so.
The days of purpose built, mission specific aircraft are over, but that being said, we don’t know that it “will NOT perform its jobs as well”.
The flight testing program is “just starting” and is still in it’s infancy.
The stealthy F-16 replacement is what the F35 is. Can the F-16 do the jobs it’s been tasked to do? Talk about “bastardization”.
I’m no fan of “corporate mealy-mouthing” either, but to box the aircraft in when it hasn’t even been given a chance to demonstrate what it’s capable of is short sighted.
If we felt this way with every aircraft, the F14, F15, F16, F117, etc. might not have ever taken to the skies.