Hydro Junkie

Not the Harrier. You guys have me almost pulling my hair out, trying to give clues that are at least a little vague. Here we go again:
Looking for an aircraft:
1) This single seater had a design feature that's never been used on any other aircraft
2) This high performance plane was designed and built by the same company that designed and built an earlier "legendary" single seater
3) This plane was used in two different roles in combat operations
4) This plane was slightly slower, was shorter ranged and had a lower service ceiling than the plane that eventually replaced it, another "legendary" performer
5) Unlike the plane that replaced it, the plane in question was armed with four cannon and "revolutionary" missiles that gave the country that operated both aircraft a major tactical advantage in combat
6) This plane, the one that replaced it and an attack plane from the same era all used the same basic engine. The version on this plane had twice the power of the one used on the attack plane and slightly more than the version used in the plane that replaced it. It also had 23% more power than the Demon from Ernie's last guess
7) A preproduction version of this aircraft, while being flown by a two war veteran pilot, set a record for the lowest time needed to cross it's country. The pilot would later become a legislator and set two historical marks in aviation AFTER RETIRING from the military
8) The record setting pilot flew this plane AFTER flying the earlier legendary single seater(clue 2), an "iron" single seater and a second legendary single seater in which he got three kills. Each plane got successively faster than the former plane flown
Good Luck