The F-4 Phantom had a favorable exchange ratio

Is The F-35 Strike Fighter The Military Chevy Volt? - Investor's Business Daily, Feb 27, 2012.

As we learned in past conflicts, relying on one-size-fits-all aircraft can be perilous. Our reliance on the carrier-based F-4 Phantom during Vietnam is a case in point. An aircraft designed to hunt down Soviet bombers during the Cold War, it carried missiles but no guns and was ill-suited for dogfights against MiG fighters designed for a single role — that of air superiority.

What a horrible record, of journalistic malfeasance. The facts are that the F-4 Phantom had a favorable exchange ratio over every type of Soviet fighter during the Vietnam war. And this record got even better, once the United States armed forces started training their pilots to use the technological advantages of the F-4.