I ride my Jetstream around the rather sprawling (and rapidly urbanizing) suburb that offers a mix of new and old, broken asphalt; mild hills, and some singletracks (that may or may not qualify as "blue" trails - I don't have the kind of experience to be able to tell) across large parcels of as-yet-undeveloped land (which are disappearing fast as the rapidly populating area is being built up. We moved here in November 2023 and a lot of the structures that are now occupied and in use weren't even there at the time - that's how fast the neighborhood is urbanizing.)

So, the factory rear shock is a nice 150mm Fox O2 air with rebound adjust, which is in stark contrast to the fork, which is a very basic affair with plain blades suspended by a small elastomer block inside the steerer tube, with movement via a pantograph-like structure.

There's nothing wrong with the fork per se; it's just there and kind of out of the way, but I was wondering if swapping it out for something "better" - like splurging on an air fork (with or without rebound adjustment) would make something like the Jetstream in any way a better off-road/gravel bike. I know that many people would find the thought that even daring to ride a folding off-road or run it as a gravel bike laughable, but perhaps you can find it in your hearts to humor me here.

So basically, two questions:

1. Is it even worth it to replace the fork with even a basic name-brand fork (with just preload adjustment, maybe even a lockout?) [Note: so far as I can tell, the rear shock doesn't have a lockout feature.)
2. What has anyone replaced their Jetstream's fork with? Recommendations as to what type of fork and how much to spend would be great.