If jane's are anywhere near correct, this is certainly going to be one hell of an expensive fighter jet.
Gripen operational cost lowest of all western fighters: Jane
For us, replacing the F16, it would mean going from 7.000-ish $/ flighthour
to a whopping 21.000$/hr, a 3 fold in operating expenses,
after the already expensive purchasing costs that need to be made.
Even the Typhoon and Rafale are cheaper, despite being 2 engined vs 1 engined planes.
21.000 for the A
31.000 for the B and C.
For the F35, Keep in mind though that these numbers are estimates based on reasonable assumptions, while fuel needs and other costs are fairly easy to calculate, there are some areas that still need to be better determined, as such the numbers could go down a bit, but also up, the general ballpark should be correct though.
Just to put things in perspective, the F22 is supposed to be 70.000, using the same cost phylosophy.