Recognising that most Australian papers are as reliable a source of aviation news as British tabloids or the National Enquirer, I will point you towards a story in the Sydney Morning Herald that puts an interesting spin on the Royal Australian Navy's purchase of two amphibious landing ships.
The newspaper points out the Spanish-designed vessels will have ski jumps and the capability to operate short take-off and vertical landing Joint Strike Fighters, raising the possibility that the RAN might regain the carrier-based aviation capability it lost when HMAS Melbourne was retired in 1982.
The Royal Australian Air Force already plans to buy 100 conventional take-off and landing F-35As, so surely a few STOVL F-35Bs is not too much to ask for?
Flight's resident ocker, Peter La Franchi, reminds me he first wrote about the RAN wanting carriers five years ago. "The RAN wants carriers and the ships it has on order are air-capable," he says, "but the RAAF will never agree to fighters going on ships and that is a political battle the RAN cannot ever win."
Australia's new aircraft carrier...sorry, amphibious landing ship