[JamesP81]

Funny, USAF is selling it as a multi-role machine to justify the purchase.

That's probably just something to placate the pols to get them to actually appropriate the money for it. In WW2 the Mustang was touted as multi-role, but everyone who flew it knew it's first and best purpose was to shoot down German planes.

[AndyJackson]

In WW2 the Mustang was touted as multi-role, but everyone who flew it knew it's first and best purpose was to shoot down German planes.

Actually this is not the case. By the time it was introduced massively, a significant part of the air war was over. After escorting bombers to their targets, the P51s were then detached to perform the other thing they were really good at - ground attack - shooting up trains, troops and equipment.

In fact, one of the conclusions of the Strategic Bombing Survey is that the collapse of the German army might have come a lot faster had the Army Air Corps been focused more on ground support and less on strategic bombing.