Well the F-18 was also a multi-role platform while the F-14 and F-15 are primarily air superiority (though they do have attack capabilities).
One downside with going with a Super Hornet or Typhoon is that we'll reach this point (old airframe, inferior avionics, etc) sooner than with the F-35, and upgrading older airplanes is more expensive, so as you say while the Super Hornet would have been cheaper, how much sooner would we be at the point we are at right now again? Soon enough to justify the outlay for the F-35?
I don't think a bidding process makes much sense since there's very few options (we're buying existing stuff, not designing a whole new airplane), so picking the best one is fine.
But a more detailed explanation of why they made the choice would be nice.
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