Yes, you're right, the Air Force wanted to kill it.
Have to wonder why the Air Force would make a decision to deep six the only close air support plane they have (and claim the F-35 could do the job, which it can't). Sounds like they wanted us to lose wars, doesn't it. Or maybe they have a belief that they can conduct wars without Americans on the ground? Obama doctrine? I don't know, it sounds crazy.
Those enhancements sound pretty good. On the carrier version, look what happened to US in Turkey when there was a coup against Erdogan. They shut off the electricity on our shared base and surrounded it. It became a problem and I don't think we couldn't fly. While we need land bases, they can't pull that bs with our carriers.