[wildzzz]

The Gripen is a light multirole aircraft like the F-16. The F-35 is a stealth strike fighter. It requires another level of special care to maintain its stealth performance. If you want mass-produced stealth aircraft, that's what's required. Stealth aircraft up to this point have been in extremely limited numbers at astronomical costs.

[throwaway85825]

The f35 has been produced in sufficient numbers that its purchase price is lower than that of 4th Gen fighters. The maintenance cost is higher though.

[wildzzz]

True, its really the first mass produced stealth plane. Everything before it has been in pretty limited numbers (even the F-22 didn't break 200). We definitely could build a new non-stealth fighter that's cheap to build and maintain but that's like saying we should design a new incandescent lightbulb, the money spent on development just isn't worth it over just building more F-35s.