National Defence committee  I believe, as Mr. Ross has said, this possibility exists. I've certainly not seen it, and certainly what we have here is a process. Let's just talk about airlift, because that's the one that seems to be the focus of attention. We've had on the books for quite some time the requirement for a total airlift solution, both a strategic piece and a tactical piece.

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. I agree that this is an important matter. In fact, because of the dollar value associated with procurement, it demands a fair bit of attention from us. I'm quite pleased that we're looking at this subject. As we move forward, finding a way to deliver useful products to the men and women of the Canadian Forces in a very timely fashion, while meeting the needs of the taxpaying public, is a wonderful thing.

National Defence committee  First off, thank you for your question. I mentioned earlier that we are interested in value for money. It is of interest to note with respect to the C-130J that we have not in fact entered into contract at this point in time. So obviously there are going to be some negotiation processes that we'll need--

National Defence committee  Well, I have to say that we will be in a world of hurt. Our older fleet of C-130 aircraft is dying out from underneath us very quickly, and we need to find some way of replacing that. We set a requirement, which I feel very strongly was a very good requirement, and the process to date has identified one compliant bidder, that being the C-130J.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me back to speak with you about Canada's Air Force. It gives me great pleasure to see members of Parliament show interest in the Canadian Forces. I know that some of you are amongst those who spent time at our headquarters and on our wings last year, meeting and speaking with our personnel and, in most cases, flying in Canadian Forces' aircraft.

National Defence committee  When I spoke of 75%, I was speaking of the contracted airlift into theatre. A large portion of this was Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft that were used to transport a lot of our equipment directly into Kandahar. In addition, there were some C-17 aircraft from the United States Air Force that also moved people and equipment into theatre.

National Defence committee  In cases such as this, military planners will always develop contingency plans, simply because we have been asked by the government to do a number of things from time to time, and it's always a good idea to have a plan, even if you don't carry through on it. In respect of the contract, I believe it was done in anticipation that something might happen.

National Defence committee  Essentially, they all contribute aircraft to a pool. The Americans have the A-10 Warthog and the F-16, the Dutch have the F-16, the Royal Air Force has the Harrier, and there are a number of Apache attack helicopters that are also available. They are all made available on a rotating basis, so when our people get into trouble and have to call for air cover, they don't know on that particular day who might actually show up.

National Defence committee  You could help me by-- You used the term “surveillance”?

National Defence committee  Is it like with AWACS or...?

National Defence committee  Most of the missions in this regard are being provided by United States aircraft. When it comes to the close air support, the missions in which munitions are delivered, there are aircraft from the United States and aircraft from the Royal Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

National Defence committee  To the best of my knowledge, we are proceeding with phase two of the CF-18 upgrade much as the contract called for. We should have all of the aircraft done by the year 2009. With that, we will have significant capabilities so that if we were asked to participate in an activity in Afghanistan, it would be very helpful, but it would probably be at least another 12 months before those new aircraft could be utilized under those circumstances.

National Defence committee  From an air force perspective, we are very shortly going to be approaching saturation point in terms of our ability to process new projects. With the announcements made in June of the C-17 and Chinook to fill two essential requirements and the replacement for our C-130s, we are almost to the point where it's going to be a challenge.

National Defence committee  One of the incentives would be the training we offer. A number of people find that very attractive. One of our challenges is that some of the training is so attractive, that shortly after they become qualified, they leave the organization and take the training elsewhere. We find this particularly in Alberta, close to Fort McMurray, where a lot of industries are feeling the pull from that particular sector.

National Defence committee  We view our activity in Afghanistan as a Canadian Forces activity, and there are obviously many army...but the navy and the air force are making significant contributions where we can. As we move forward here in some occupations, such as truck drivers and so on, which are generic, we're going to see even more air and naval personnel make contributions where they can.