C-130, F-16N, T-38 to name a few.
Although it didn't make it to the front lines, the YF-17 morphed into the F-18.
“C-130, F-16N, T-38 to name a few.”
None of those can take off or land on a Carrier. There’s a proposal to put floats on a C-130 and try it out as a seaplane, but it went nowhere. The Navy only uses the T-38 in its test pilot school. The F-16N is only used for aggressor training.
“Although it didn’t make it to the front lines, the YF-17 morphed into the F-18.”
True, but the resulting aircraft was totally different. The YF-17 was actually a better (and faster) pure fighter in my opinion, but totally unsuited to carrier ops with its light airframe design. There’s a reason they gave the Hornet a different designation....it was a new airplane, similar in appearance only.
On a side note, I always thought USAF and Navy should have bought a small run of F-17’s (maybe 150 or so) for aggressor training.