National Defence committee  I can. Thank you, Mr. Norlock. I did take the opportunity before coming here to actually close with Lieutenant-General Vance so I have a reasonably fresh summary from the operational command. The Air Task Force, and the aircraft involved, arrived at destination, in Kuwait, on t

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to appear in front of you today. I'm pleased to be here today to provide you with a summary of Operation Impact, the Canadian Armed Forces contribution to the U.S.-led multinational coalition in Iraq, assisting the

National Defence committee  I think I was relaying to you that the feedback from the troops is exceptionally positive. Getting to operate in a training environment with close allies, getting to do a lot of those types of activities, jumping out of aircraft, working in close concert, working in Germany and P

National Defence committee  There was nothing in particular. I'm thinking that where we were operating in Romania was a very austere place. We had set up a camp of sorts and then we had to put a cement platform in when it flooded because of the local weather. When you talk about the normal type of friction

National Defence committee  Certainly, the NATO expansion of the Baltic air policing I think is a strong indicator of NATO's resolve in the face of that aggression, with the enviable byproduct of certainly reassuring the countries that we're flying over. I know, irrespective of the element that we're talkin

National Defence committee  Absolutely. Our reservists are by and large interchangeable with our regular force, at varying levels of readiness. I couldn't actually tell you how many reservists are on the mission. It's not something that we actually think of all that much because we see them as the one Canad

National Defence committee  The difficulties are not insurmountable. Romania has the MiG-21s. The country has made investments over the past 10 years and it now has more modern aircraft. These planes are not at the same level as our F-18s yet, but they are sufficient to meet a minimal level of interoperabi

National Defence committee  When we talk about smart defence in the air force, we talk about the countries' potential investments rather than about buying a fighter, for instance. Smart defence applies to all NATO affairs, and countries make sovereign choices. The goal is not for everyone to have the same

National Defence committee  I said to you previously that there's a certain asymmetry in aviation assets. You just pointed out one thing: the turn radius of a MiG-21 versus an F-18. When we're operating with them—and imagine we're doing basic fighter manoeuvres—there's a good understanding among the pilots

National Defence committee  In Germany right now. Yes.

National Defence committee  The only interaction with Ukraine in the operations that we're talking about was in Operation Sea Breeze, where there was a Ukrainian naval vessel—although we've had a longstanding training program. Perhaps I had best turn to my colleague on that. It's run out of policy. We have

National Defence committee  Amongst NATO allies there is sufficient interoperability, and certainly amongst the higher-tier NATO nations. There is a lot more commonality and interoperability from a technical sense, if I understood your question. For instance, when we were flying with the Romanians and the

National Defence committee  I have not noticed any negative consequences. We continue to work with AWACS. In NATO missions, staff members use the system jointly with the United States. Our routine operations include aircraft capabilities. There are no negative consequences because Canada withdrew from the s

National Defence committee  No. I think NATO has found other member states to replace Canada.

National Defence committee  I'll talk to the Romanian piece right now specifically. Having spent almost four months operating with them and having the opportunity to do everything from basic fighter manoeuvres through different scenarios, we certainly found a very willing NATO partner in this. There are v