Mr. Chairman, committee members, my name is Richard Bastien, and I am vice-president of business development at L-3 MAS. On behalf of my president, Sylvain Bédard, who is unfortunately out of the country today, I am very pleased to have this opportunity to express our views on the upcoming procurement of fighter jets by the Canadian government. I thank you for this opportunity.
To establish my credentials and that of L-3 MAS, let me just indicate to you that I have completed a military career of more than 35 years as a fighter pilot and commanding officer of a fighter squadron and of a fighter wing, concluding my career in 2004 as assistant chief of the air staff. I am now with L-3 MAS, a Canadian company, wholly owned by L-3 Communications. MAS, established in Mirabel, Quebec, was previously owned by Bombardier Aerospace. It has been in the aerospace industry for well over 60 years, but is more known over the past 25 years to be the CF-18 sustainment authority in Canada. Sustainment refers to the engineering, maintenance, and upgrade support to the CF-18 fleet. As a matter of fact, we can say that MAS is the fighter sustainment centre of excellence in Canada, having created and sustained nearly 1,000 jobs in the Canadian economy over that same period.
As regards the government's recent announcement to proceed with acquiring the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as its next fighter jet, MAS is clear. As my president indicated when Prime Minister Harper visited our facilities on September 1, we fully support the government's decision and are happy to see that it is striving to equip the Canadian Forces and its air force with leading-edge equipment capable of carrying out all missions that may be required in the future. The JSF, or the F-35, is clearly that aircraft.
As I mentioned, MAS fully supports the government's decision to go ahead and acquire the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. We believe that being part of a group of like-minded nations flying this interoperable fighter aircraft will make Canada a stronger international partner and provide a more effective response, if and when required. However, to effectively and efficiently provide this operational capability with a relatively small fleet must mean that Canada will put a lot of effort into ensuring availability of all operational assets over the full life of the fleet, which we understand to be planned to last until 2050. This surely means that a solid sustainment plan will be established as early as possible.
Let me make a point that seems to be lost so far with this project. There are two key phases to such projects: the acquisition of this system and its sustainment over time. So far, a lot of discussion has pertained to the acquisition. Numerous Canadian companies are already proud participants in that phase, and we are most happy for them. But the sustainment--something that really starts once the aircraft is delivered--is as important as the acquisition and must be addressed now, because the sustainment cost of a fleet over 20 years of use normally equals or exceeds the acquisition cost. In this case we are talking about a fleet that is meant to last at least 35 years, thus the sustainment question should be even more important than the acquisition question, since Canada will want a viable operational capability until the end of the F-35 operational life.
Of course, an aircraft such as the F-35 is quite an improvement over the previous generation of fighters. It will provide undreamed-of operational capabilities, and even incorporate leading-edge stealth material to increase its survivability. However, its basic construction, its airframe, will still age and fatigue over time, caused by normal training and combat use, and it will need to be maintained, repaired, and modified to meet its expected longevity. This was the case with older generations of fighters, such as the CF-18, and believe me, it will be the case with any fighter aircraft that will fly for more than 35 years. It is a core concern that must be addressed.
I say that with some confidence, since L-3 MAS truly understands these issues. We have lengthened the life of the CF-18 by more than 15 years to make it last 40 years. We are proud to be the centre of excellence for fighter sustainment in Canada. This is the state of industrial support for military fighter aircraft in Canada. Today, no other Canadian company has the skill and experience we have acquired, with DND support, over the past 25 years in delivering fighter sustainment and improvements. We are proud of that heritage and the quality of service for which we are known, and we wish to pursue that superb relationship with DND on the F-35.
We all know that there is no offset attached to the JSF. We understand that to mean that most industrial gains in Canada will be through competition in the global market. To achieve these gains, surely the Government of Canada will want to assist Canadian companies in their quest to capture part of this global supply chain. While this can more easily be accomplished for systems and parts of the aircraft, it cannot be so for this fighter sustainment, as a country will not likely ferry its aircraft thousands of kilometres away to get them fixed, especially if they are not in flying condition.