Thank you. I hope you're right. We'll follow that very closely, of course.
I'll move to another area that's of great interest to me, and has been for the last number of years, and that is, as you mentioned, the Arctic. There's a recent paper on search and rescue in the Arctic, and the needs that Canada has and hasn't quite been able to fulfill and the new treaty we've signed with the Arctic Council.
One of the issues I've championed over the last number of years is the notion of response time, how quickly we can get into the air. I know your CF-18s can get into the air in five minutes on high alert. We talked before the meeting about seeing a fighter pilot running for an airplane. That's when they run for an airplane.
We have fixed-wing SAR aircraft and Cormorant helicopters that are supposed to be able to get into the air in half an hour, between 8 and 4, Monday to Friday, and up to two hours after that time. We've had debates about that in this committee.
Something I recently brought to the attention of the House is that Sweden just entered into a new contract with AgustaWestland, I think it was, the manufacturer of the Cormorants, for a different type of plane. Their country, which is one-twentieth the size of ours, with a population of about one-fifth, has five primary SAR locations. They have helicopters as well as fixed-wing aircraft. They have 15 minutes wheels-up 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I feel we're behind the international standards.
Other countries, like the U.S. and Australia, have 30 minutes 24/7. Is that something you think needs to be evaluated, or do you think we're okay on that? I know you're an air force man, so you have some knowledge of this. We do have to get better in the Arctic. It takes four hours to get a Cormorant from Gander to Inuvik. These are long times for search and rescue missions that save lives.