Australia's Choice?

[Zeppelin]

I'm trying to find a definitive reason why Australia chose to buy French Mirage III Jets in the late 60's and German built Leopard tanks in the mid 70's.
Other than obsolescence.. Was there are reason politically, why such european sources replaced the previous American Sabre contractors and the previous British Centurion tank suppliers. ?

 

[Rickshaw]

I'm trying to find a definitive reason why Australia chose to buy French Mirage III Jets in the late 60's and German built Leopard tanks in the mid 70's.
Other than obsolescence.. Was there are reason politically, why such european sources replaced the previous American Sabre contractors and the previous British Centurion tank suppliers. ?

Politics.

The Mirage decision was arrived at through competition. The choice was either the F-104, the Mirage or the Lightning. The Mirage won 'cause it was the best choice. It offered the best range, the best speed and the best manoeuvrability. What was wanted though was a better engine than the ATAR. The Avon was chosen and one Mirage was prepared with it. However the cost was prohibitive and so all Australian Mirages had ATAR engines.

In the case of the Leopards, the Leopards were up against the US M60 MBT. The US could not guarantee that it could deliver all the ordered vehicles in a single tranche because the US Army was busy re-equipping with the M60 itself. The result would be several tranches of M60s, each slightly different to the preceding one, with the consequence there would be training and logistic difficulties with the different versions. The Germans guaranteed to deliver all in one go. The Australian Army therefore chose the Leopard. The Government chose the Leopard because the Prime Minister of the day wanted to reduce Australia's dependence on the US after the débâcle of Vietnam.