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. Depending upon the priorities of the military and of the government, we would then be able to address either all or part of it.
I was delighted when the resources were made available to address both parts of the airlift equation this time around, both the strategic and the tactical piece. Our strategic requirements are essentially fourfold. We want to be able to lift large amounts of material, for long distances, at rapid speeds, and to bring them right into where they're needed--those four pieces. And the air force doesn't do this in isolation. We work with the army, for instance, and ask, “What is the nature of the kind of equipment...over the next 10, 15, 20 years. What are the kinds of things you're going to need to move?”
I began in my opening presentation by talking about the high-level mandatory requirements. We've identified this as a way of expediting the procurement process. Instead of trying to identify every last little piece, we've identified a representative piece. A representative load for us was two light-armoured vehicles, two LAV IIIs. A representative distance for us was from here to Ramstein, Germany, because if you look at where we are in the world, an awful lot of what we think we're going to do over the next couple of years is either in the African domain or over in the Asian domain. To get there, it makes an awful lot of sense for us to hop first into Europe and then out of Europe into those domains.