Thank you, madam.
Our submarines have previously been deployed to Arctic waters on two occasions, in 2008 and 2009. Some countries have submarines that can carry on underwater operations in the Arctic.
These submarines are nuclear propelled, and this nuclear propulsion gives them the ability to remain submerged for a very extended period of time. But they are also submarines that are built, from a safety perspective, with the ability to surface through the ice in an emergency. There are only a few countries that have that capability, for instance the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom.
This is a very expensive capability to have. It is a very expensive capability to sustain. It requires very unique technical, operating, and maintenance skill sets within the fleet that we currently do not have. That technology does exist, but it is not planned for the Royal Canadian Navy.