That's a good question, and there is very good news, actually, for the coast guard.
The coast guard operated 22 helicopters up until last fall, when we lost one, so we now have a fleet of 21 helicopters. The government has given us the funding required to replace the whole fleet. This money is actually the first portion for the replacement. This portion is to acquire a piece of the contract, which is spread out over two “contract years”, if you want, but spread over three fiscal years, starting now. As the CFO mentioned, we will receive the first helicopter in March, I believe, and then one a month for three months, and then two a month for all 15 of the light helicopters. These light helicopters are being built by Bell Helicopter in Mirabel. They are Bell 429s. They are mainly replacing the fleet of light BO-105 helicopters we are using.
The next phase of the helicopter acquisition program will involve building seven medium helicopters, and once that is completed, all coast guard helicopters will have been replaced. Finally, a simulator, to be located at the Transport Canada training centre at the Ottawa airport, will be acquired.
The coast guard uses those helicopters for a variety of work, from aids to navigation maintenance to maintenance of remote communication sites—mountain sites and island sites. When the ships are moving through the Arctic, there is a helicopter aboard each of them. These helicopters are used to do ice surveying of the route to be taken by the ship. These helicopters are used to do crew changes and all kinds of work around the ship, again, in the Arctic, as well as maintenance of various installations on the ground. The helicopter is the most efficient way to do all of that work. Helicopters are not used per se for search and research and hoisting. Those things are done by the National Defence helicopters.
That, in essence, is the work we're doing.