General Lucas, Colonel Burt, Mr. Williston, thank you very much for being here. General Lucas and Colonel Burt, thank you for the service to our country that you do. We really appreciate it.
I have three questions, gentlemen.
The first concerns the Auroras. In my province of British Columbia, the Auroras are going to be mothballed and replaced with drones. The range of the two is very different. Could you explain to us how the drones are going to meet the capabilities of the Auroras, particularly since we've put a very large amount of money into upgrading the Auroras?
The second question relates to the C-17s. When we were in government, our proposal was to buy the tactical airlift, lease the strategic airlift, have the C-17s in Canada--have six of them, which we determined was the minimum amount to meet the requirements of the air force--and in doing that, we would save the taxpayer over $400 million. The Americans were in favour of this. We were in favour of this. It seemed like a wonderful partnership, good for the taxpayer, good for our Canadian Forces. I don't understand why the significant departure in moving in the direction we have.
My last question relates to the fixed-wing replacement for the Buffalo. It's my understanding that the minimum flight speed has been elevated to 140 knots. For our SAR techs to do contour surveillance in the mountains of British Columbia, the minimum flight speed is between 70 knots and 120 knots. So if the stall speed of the SOR is going to be above the flight speed required to do a visual search in the mountains, it seems to me we're opening the situation up to one that would put the lives of our SAR techs in danger. If it's true that the SOR for the minimum flight speed was raised, why was it raised?
Thank you.