Canada's Gripen and F-35 force mix

Would Gripen make sense as a supporting aircraft alongside Canada's F-35s?

Yes, if it provides affordable mass and useful air-defense capacity alongside the F-35's higher-end strike capability.

Gripen could complement Canada's F-35 fleet by adding useful numbers and dispersed-operating flexibility across a vast country. The F-35 remains the higher-end strike aircraft, while Gripen offers a capable air-defense platform with lower operating costs and useful forward-basing characteristics. Canada needs enough aircraft to cover immense airspace, so buying only the most advanced type can leave too few airframes available. The comparison is to historical fleets built around numerous third- and fifth-rate ships that supported a smaller number of first rates. Elite capability and affordable mass solve different parts of the force-structure problem. The operating-cost saving still has to be weighed against the capabilities sacrificed.