Thank you, Chair.
Admiral, Chief Petty Officer, thank you so much for being with us and for that stimulating presentation and exchange. It's great to be hearing from the senior service, as we talk about readiness—and no offence to the army colleagues on my right.
Your remarks seem to focus quite rightly on three challenges that the navy in particular faces, the home game; the away game, contributing to international security, often in far away places; but also this question of protecting the global commons and the reality of our dependence on intense international trade overseas, to which Canadians like many others in the world are blind when we're not specifically reminded of that dependence.
The one place on Canada's coast where these three issues potentially come together is the Arctic, given that there are unresolved border issues and the potential for rivalries of various kinds. Looking at the naval shipbuilding program that stands before us, the new capability we have, the big one for the navy is the Arctic offshore patrol vessel .
Could you tell us specifically what that will add to our naval readiness posture, and are there other countries that have that kind of vessel, or are developing that kind of vessel?