Affordable lightweight fighters

I’ve been thinking about the current options for an air force with limited defence budgets & wants an affordable lightweight fighter – a modern day equivalent of the F-5E or Mig-21.

An aircraft that is cheap to buy, simple to maintain & one that most developing countries could afford as new-build aircraft.

Of course the definition of “affordable” is subjective. But arbitrarily, for the sake of argument, let’s set the Saab Gripen (new build) as the upper limit of the threshold, as the Gripen itself is a lightweight fighter.

The list of possibilities seems rather limited:

Saab JAS-39C/D Gripen
Chengdu J-10
CAC/PAC FC-1 (PF-17)
Chengdu F-7MG
Mig-35 Fulcrum-F (?)
F-16 Block 50/52 (?)

I am not sure how much a new F-16 Block 50/52/60 or Mig-35 costs, but I imagine they are not cheap.

Do you think the affordable lightweight fighter has been neglected by the Western aviation industry, or am I overestimating the purchase price of a new F-16 Block 52/60?

Are economically challenged developing countries destined to rely on refurbished 2nd-hand aircraft? :confused: