I was thinking in terms of something designed from the start for ground-attack/bombing, but my point is that the Navy can't possibly think it needs the same lightweight fighters the Air Force wants just because they operate from carriers, since they spent >35 years running a big-ass plane off carriers.

(For that matter, there were the C-130 tests on a carrier, which was probably pushing the bounds of good sense, but it did work.)

Yep, I loved the Bombcat. Oh, and we also flew the A-5 Vigilante, which was huge. Heck, we've even had C-130 Hercules to take off and landings on a CV.