It's a very interesting question. There is no simple answer. We can't say, of course, that every procurement should take place in three or five years. It depends very much on the particular program. For obvious reasons, the megaprojects, the huge ones, will take longer than the acquisition of a relatively small piece of equipment. In fact, our association, our institute, did a study last year of procurement times and we found there is an enormous range. Yes, of course, the maritime helicopter project is some 30 years. But there have been some very good instances in recent years of quick acquisition in under three or even two years. An example is the Nyala vehicle for the army in Afghanistan. The new artillery piece for the army, which is being used very effectively in Afghanistan, had come through very quickly.
An important factor is whether you can buy something that exists on the shelf that meets Canadian needs precisely, and if the will is there and the operational need is critical, then the government can buy this equipment very quickly. But in other cases...for example, the Canadian patrol frigate, which had to be designed, wasn't available on the shelf to meet Canadian needs. That's one that took many years. It depends very much on the circumstance of the day.