But these Leopard 2 tanks, which we were able to procure through a very innovative process from the Dutch, gave us a new capability that we hadn't been in possession of for some years.
Other modern land craft are equipped with body armour that again is designed specifically to protect the soldiers who are operating that equipment. Even the body armour itself, which is of a lighter composition that allows for greater mobility, the type of weaponry that is being used in theatre, M-777s, and the type of protective capabilities that we now provide our soldiers were important investments and, as you indicated, came about as a result of the experience in Afghanistan.
But to your question, when those pressures arrive they can clearly cause a change in the type of investment required. Over 20 years, to be frank with you, sir, I expect that there will be other changes and other innovations that may put pressure on the budget of the Department of National Defence. But this Parliament and, I would suspect, all members of this committee would agree that we can't send people into harm's way without proper equipment, without proper protection in particular, and without giving them the best capability to perform this important work that they do for us both at home and abroad.