This same situation would have occurred if we had bought the Leopard 2 or the Challenger 2. We don't have the facilities to even make ceramic armours let alone repair something like Chobham armour let alone any armour more advanced than Chobham. Any repairs would require the vehicle be sent back to the country of origin. Even with the Leopard AS1 tank, we would have had to send them back to Germany for any significant repair or refurbishment.
DU armour was unacceptable to the Australian public and was, as mentioned before, a vote killer for any political party that went against that aspect of public opinion.
For any political party to covertly acquire tanks with DU armour at that period in time would require a conspiracy of silence from 2004 until the present day that would involve politicians on all sides of Australian politics, public servants, civilian contractors and military personnel to the tune of thousands of individuals. The Australian Greens party in particular would have rained merry hell down on government if they found out any such duplicity involving uranium had occurred.
The implication of all this is that either: -
1. the rest of the Australian population are a bunch of dupes who believe whatever the government tells them
2. the entire population of Australia is "in on it" and is lying to the rest of the world to protect the conspiracy despite many Australians being firmly opposed to DU
or
3. the government is telling the truth, we have no DU armour
In the nearly two decades of Abrams in Australian service, there has not been a single piece of evidence to support the notion that the Australian Abrams have DU armour. The American tanker that claimed we do have DU armour was arguing from a point of supposition. He displayed no consideration for the Australian social-political situation, of Australian health & safety regulations, of Australian military practice or, to be blunt, he exhibited no proof that he had any idea whatsoever about any aspect of Australia, the Australian government and the Australian military.
The Australian tanker could at least claim direct knowledge of all three of those subjects even if he had not had direct experience of the Australian Abrams.
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