Australia has scrapped plans to purchase F-35B fighter jets for the two largest ships in its Navy after it was found that the ships would require extensive modifications which were deemed to be too costly.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot wanted to put short-take-off and vertical-landing F-35Bs – made by American defense contractor Lockheed Martin – on the decks of the Navy’s two 27,000-ton troop transport assault ships.
To accommodate the aircraft, defense officials said, the ships would require extensive modifications, including new radar systems, instrument landing systems, heat-resistant decking, restructuring of fuel storage and fuel lines, and storage hangars.
The two assault ships, as they are now, are designed to carry helicopters.
Australia therefore will only operate the standard F-35A variant, of which 72 are on order and two are currently used for training in the United States. The first Royal Australian Air Force pilots are learning to fly the F-35A at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.
Press release RIA Novosti
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