Recent governments clearly boxed themselves in with the "5 or 6 FJ sqns will be enough" statement. What's now even clearer is that the planning assumptions that underpinned those decisions were gravely flawed - as most of us on here knew at the time.
it doesn't matter how "network centric" your new jet is - if you've only got a handful of them you're stuffed. Instead of continually chasing the technology what would be better is a more balanced (and overall larger) force of old and new. There's many on here that have bleated time and again about buying a few squadrons worth of Super Hornets or Strike Eagles to augment Typhoon, and the more you think about it the more it makes sense. Seems to work OK for the Aussies after all.
Long live the Mighty Fin!