The ship Australia missed the most lately, and especially during the East Timor crisis, was the former Sydney, not the Melbourne. Australia requires sealift and amphibious capability to send its troops abroad, the Canberra LHDs will fit the billing. Building a light carrier version of the Canberra would NOT provide the sealift capabilities required. Furthermore, the Canberra LHD is not designed with the proper fuel and armament bunkerage. The more one attempts to get a light carrier out of the Canberra LHD, the more one loses her vital sealift capability.
Australia isn't buying an American Wasp, they are buying a smaller LHD...
I dont want to make heavy counts on the lhd, it is a fact that if you want to use it as f35b carrier as much (numbers of jets) as possible we are left only with the lower deck for vehicles, that is 46 leopards or 32 apart from the dock.
In the case of australia they are fitting it for other role, but the spanish are using it as a carrier, proper carrier, that means it has bunkerage and fuelage (just by its own) for some things, for ex it has for 100 f35b´s "full" trips (6 tonne per trip) plus 200 tonnes of jp5 for the gas turbine (?), and recall the range for 6 tonnes is 1700 kms, i put again that is 600 sq meters of weaponry..
About the canberras, they are pure lhd, but enough compatible already to use f35b´s for many things useful for any navy (multiple jets attack with harpoons to an hostile ship...) or supporting the army in land (paveway´s...).
From a first sight i would say that with the proper hanger and fligth deck back parking places they have enough for the chinoks and mhr60r normally asigned for a canberra. So you have to share the rest of the space in the light load deck and the flight deck fore parking places for the tigers, f35b´s and vehicles. Space for a tiger: 14 mts long, f35b: 15 mts, one thing very important for carrying tigers is if the can fit like the mrh60r that you can put 12 squezed in very little space.
To resume: you can park 2 f35b´s in the flight deck fore parking places (impossible to put tigers there), and one f35b in the maintenance space next to the fore lift, and you almost dont notice the sealift and amphibious capability as wanted by the ran (and you can launch attacks of 6 harpoons at 700 kms range)...But i understand the ran as well, they have well traced the line of actions and capabilities and want to concentrate on that. But we can point the ran fleet fronted an hostile fleet, what weapons has the ran? 2 four harpoon launchers from the ship position (awd), and collins.
We can almost have the missed sydney and melbourne all together now in one canberra, imagine 2 canberras...:flash
Best regards.
: Assuming it did then being fully operational by next year seems to be pretty quick.