Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Alexander.
Yes, there are other countries that have that kind of capability, certainly Norway and Denmark. When you look at what they have in their order of battle, they have that medium-sized, lightly armed but ice-capable and mostly constabulary vessel, which is what the Arctic offshore patrol ship will be. We are talking about a vessel that is not being built or designed to go in harm's way high up the spectrum of operations. In other words, we would not deploy an Arctic offshore patrol ship off the coast of Libya, or off the coast of Syria or Yemen, or wherever the next hot spot might be as this interesting century unfolds. But it certainly is aimed at providing the ability to be present and persistent through the entire navigable season, to be able to navigate to where we need to go, including through that first-year ice; to be able to respond primarily to security and safety kinds of events; and to be there alongside our federal partners in providing support when they are the lead agency, whether it's CBSA, RCMP, Coast Guard, Fisheries, etc.
The Arctic offshore patrol ships are Arctic and offshore. The offshore piece means that we will have an increased ability or more flexibility to patrol off the east and west coasts during those months when the Arctic is not navigable, until such a time the Arctic becomes ice free—if and when it does. This is something I'm very excited about. The AOPS will provide me with the flexibility to have ships available supporting Fisheries and Oceans, for example, on the Grand Banks in February—which, if you're look for a really interesting opportunity for the parliamentary program, is quite an interesting time to be at sea off Newfoundland—or similarly off the west coast.