I see it as a sidegrade.
Do you want the flight model at the cost of HMD , irccm and a few more countermeasures or do you want to play the heavier 16C with the convenience
ADF is nearly a tonne lighter allowing for a much better instantaneous turn and over a full G harder turns allowing you to get into notches faster, alongside bleeding less energy, and although the engine’s static thrust is weaker, it’s peak TWR is superior, which leads to a slightly better top speed and acceleration at altitude, although at sea level it is slightly weaker.
Flight model and extra acceleration at altitude will help it in BVR, of which lacking HMD or IRCCM isn’t really an issue, and in today’s BVR meta this is definitely worth something.
Notching and off bore counter launching with HMS within like 5-20 kilometers is literally the meta gameplay loop, what are you talking about. HMS is absolutely essential to launch a missile and return to the notch angle as fast as possible. Tall ACM box is workable, but HMS is much better.
AIM-9Ms are only good because of their seeker and smokeless motor, which makes them good for intercepting. Take it away and you have an absolutely trash missile for dogfights compared to R-73, Magic 2 or Python 3, that’s precisely what AIM-9L is. Within 1km AIM-9s are barely any better than just using guns.