Australia may cut its order for U.S. military jets in half, The Australian reported Tuesday. The country had planned to buy 100 F-35 joint strike fighter jets. The jets, to be built by Lockheed-Martin, were due to be delivered starting in 2014. Under plans for the project, the United States was scheduled to order 2,500 planes. But Australian Defense Secretary Shane Carmody told a parliamentary inquiry that U.S. number might be cut by 20 percent, which would drive up the cost of individual planes. “Sometimes you have to cut your cloth, but we are a long way short of that at this point,” Carmody said. © Copyright 2006 by United Press International

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