I say,(In my opinion) let BAE work on a navalised Typhoon & lets see if their claims will be, as what they say they'll be. Let them work on, one, two, three or whatever number of Typhoon's they'll need, and if it all works out well, seriously consider that option.
I'm not "Anti-F35" and I'm certainly not "Pro-F35", never thought it's a good deal for us for a, "Watered down", (The Yanks not wanting, so it seems, to share tech/codes with their "Closest-Ally", so much for trusting your friends) "Stealth" aircraft. Stinks to me!
F/A-18? Nice, but, cancelling an aircraft in favour for another it (F-35 A/B/C) was designed to replace........Well, that's a bit like going to buy an Aston Martin DB9 & thinking; 'Naaaaah, I'll buy the old Aston Martin DB7, the one the DB9 was designed to replace, instead'. Still a nice buy though....
Rafale? A tempting buy....But what about the workshare? Weapons fit, avionics etc, most of it would have to be changed?....
Gripen NG? A good replacement for the Harrier's in RAF service.
As I said, this is just my opinion(s), so... =)
Regards