should Dassault and France have skipped a generation? (i.e. Rafale or Mirage 2000?)

what happened:
Mirage 3/5 (2nd gen), Jaguar and Mirage F1 (3rd gen), Mirage 2000 (4th gen), Rafale (4.5 gen). (no 5th gen)

In the other thread, a lot of us agreed that the existence of the Rafale pretty much limited the future of m2k evolutions compared to the F-16 and MiG-29 series.

Do you think France should have skipped one generation, for example.

alt 1: M3/M5 -> F1 -> skip M2k and M4K -> Rafale. In this scenario, the F1s would go on a lot longer, with more significant upgrades, until replaced by Rafale.
alt 2: M3/M5 -> F1 -> M2K -> skip Rafale -> 5th gen aircraft. In this case, M2Ks would go a lot longer through more evolutions and rather than a 4.5 gen aircraft, it would go straight to a 5th gen

the Navy would have to find a different way to adjust such as using the Super Entendards and F-8s longer, or adopt the F-18C until either the Rafale or the 5th gen came into service in either option. (not sure if the M2K could ever be navalized, although the Skyray and the Tejas N are also delta and could also land on a carrier)

or are you fully satfisfied with
real: M3/M5 -> F1 -> M2K -> Rafale -> no 5th gen