The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is stepping up its lobbying efforts for a full order of 100 F-35 Lightning IIs, a number that has been officially endorsed but could easily be trimmed in a defense white paper due next year. The chief of the air force, Air Marshal Mark Binskin, strongly defends the choice of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 as its next fighter, arguing that it will be part of an integrated airpower system and the country could not hope to find better.

China will suspend approvals for airliner orders and ask carriers to delay deliveries of aircraft already under contract. Airbus orders may be under particular threat, because of the decision of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to meet Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Airliner orders that have already been approved can go ahead, but further orders will not be allowed, the Civil Aviation Administration of China tells Bloomberg News.

Airbus is close to an agreement with Avic’s Harbin Aircraft to set up a joint composite-components plant in China, an early test of the European company’s policy of avoiding cooperation that promotes Chinese industry as a future competitor.