Caribou To Bow Out Early

摘要

It was announced on February 19 that the Royal Australian Air Force's fleet of de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou transport aircraft will be retired in December 2009 rather than 2013. This has come about as the aircraft have become increasingly hard to keep operational, and contain asbestos. This means that the RAAF has struggled to maintain four or five serviceable aircraft at the same time out of a remaining fleet of 13. Potential Caribou replacements that can provide a tactical battlefield airlift capability have been studied under Project Air 8000 Phase 2 and this process will be examined to see if it can be accelerated. In the meantime, to help fill the gap between the DHC-4's retirement and a new aircraft, five Beechcraft 300 King Airs are to be leased and phased into the Caribou unit, 38 Squadron, as the latter are withdrawn.