TVC gang

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The three thrust-vectoring aircraft at Edwards, CA, each capable of flying at extreme angles of attack, cruise over the California desert in formation during flight in March 1994. They are, from left, NASA’s F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV), flown by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center; the X-31, flown by the X-31 International Test Organization (ITO) at Dryden; and the Air Force F-16 Multi-Axis Thrust Vectoring (MATV) aircraft.

GE reveals major achievements in hybrid electric propulsion

GE modified an F110 engine, a propulsion option for the Boeing F-15 and Lockheed Martin F-16, to generate 1MW of electric power. By siphoning compressed air from the core, GE extracted 250kW from the high-pressure turbine and – in and industry first for a two-shaft engine – 750kW from the low-pressure turbine, according to the white paper.[…]
By comparison, the Boeing 787 uses six generators to produce a maximum load of 1.4MW of electric power,

Source:
FlightGlobal.com

If you like to rewrite history, there is a dedicated forum.

Wiki:

Origins
The McDonnell F3H-G/H mockup, 1954
In 1953, McDonnell Aircraft began work on revising its F3H Demon naval fighter, seeking expanded capabilities and better performance. The company developed several projects including a variant powered by a Wright J67 engine,[15] and variants powered by two Wright J65 engines, or two General Electric J79 engines.[16] The J79-powered version promised a top speed of Mach 1.97. On 19 September 1953, McDonnell approached the United States Navy with a proposal for the “Super Demon”. Uniquely, the aircraft was to be modular—it could be fitted with one- or two-seat noses for different missions, with different nose cones to accommodate radar, photo cameras, four 20 mm (.79 in) cannon, or 56 FFAR unguided rockets in addition to the nine hardpoints under the wings and the fuselage. The Navy was sufficiently interested to order a full-scale mock-up of the F3H-G/H, but felt that the upcoming Grumman XF9F-9 and Vought XF8U-1 already satisfied the need for a supersonic fighter.[17]
The McDonnell design was therefore reworked into an all-weather fighter-bomber with 11 external hardpoints for weapons and on 18 October 1954, the company received a letter of intent for two YAH-1 prototypes. On 26 May 1955, four Navy officers arrived at the McDonnell offices and, within an hour, presented the company with an entirely new set of requirements. Because the Navy already had the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk for ground attack and F-8 Crusader for dogfighting, the project now had to fulfill the need for an all-weather fleet defense interceptor. A second crewman was added to operate the powerful radar.[2]

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Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II

A small fighter that have some legs, indeed….

Another kind of elegance:

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If someone can help me confirm that this is not a PS.

Marines look to next-gen aircraft for future unmanned operations

One gap that the V-247 could fill is as an escort for V-22 Ospreys, as the tilt-rotor craft are too fast in aircraft mode to be escorted by UH-1 helicopters. This falls into capability gap 3, where the Marine Corps has a large amount of overlap and operational interest from the Army and SOCOM, he said.
While Future Vertical Lift is envisioned as a family of manned platforms, the Marine Corps is very interested in an “optionally manned” capability. The V-247 has the design option to be either a UAS or a manned scout aircraft. This provides the service with operational flexibility and a replacement for the UH-1. Barranco notes that the Marine Corps is interested in an armed utility aircraft version that can be crewed, either with an optional mission kit or a different fuselage.

Source:
C4ISRNET.com

And PGM were indeed already a reality having been use in Vietnam with great success.

Cobham to provide KF-X missile launchers

Source:
FlightGlobal.com

The fact that the Typhoon might replace some of the mission delegated to the Tornado force doesn’t play much in the final equation. The point for the German, as was explained above, is that:
– all the missions can’t be relegated to Typhoons
– The strategic vision on which the Tornado system was built would still be unanswered (e.g long range reco-interdiction).

Given near peer context, the Typhoon can’t do that anymore on the most efficient way. You need Stealth.

Hence, IMOHO, the idea of extending the life of the Tornado force, probably the most efficient way to shape cost of needs around existing capabilities and work around a new system.