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The articles that I have read said that the F-35 in conjunction with the F-22 were to replace the F-16 Falcons for the Air Force. It must do some of the same things for that to be the case. Again, we can only go by what we've read.

Fortunately I have been following the F-22 since the 80's and don't have to rely on a few poor articles. The F-22 is intended to replace the F-15 (mainly the variants not tasked for strike). The F-35 is intended to replace the F-15.

While there is some overlap in missions between the 15 and 16 they are intended for different roles. Fighters are like passenger jets in a way. For some routes you need small planes to carry a few people a short way and for some routes you want a large plane to go a very long way. And there are routes for everything in between.

Fighter aircraft perform a variety of missions. Some are better than others at certain ones. Just because one CAN do the mission of the other does not mean you get rid of the other if it is optimized for that mission. Just as not airlines flight a bigger plane for a heavily used route instead of flying a lot of small planes.

Warfare is complex. It amazes me how many folks thing it is simply a matter of weapon system X being 'better' than weapon system Y.