The F-15E is overall a better platform than then F-111, while it didn't have the same legs it's operational payload was similar and it is a far more effective and useable platform. I flew with a few -111 guys and they all had stories about how balky the mission equipment was on the 'Vark, with one guy talking about how the nav system would often shit the bed and then start pointing the crew 'home' to Ft Worth where it was built. The planes largely worked by the Gulf War but they still had issues.
Bolded, that is some pretty funny/classic shit right there, if true. I don't think the MacAir products have the same kill switch (ours would be the prime meridian, where most of the pre-digital moving map legacy jet microfiche moving maps were eternally stuck at or around).
I guess my point was more that the replacement aircraft weren't built to the same mission specs as their predecessors, for many reasons. But it would sure be cool to have a dedicated interdiction aircraft in a carrier airwing. Albeit one that is not only survivable, but long legged. We lost half that capability with the Super Hornet, and have not yet regained it. That all being said, I have been able to read most all of the company/internal white paper development docs regarding the Super, starting in the early 1990's, up through the requirements stuff eventually produced by DoD, and it is pretty interesting reading in the sense of putting puzzle pieces together. Finding the pylon cant studies was like finding a needle in a haystack. I found them though