Thank you.
I'll speak first of all to the strategic airlift capability, because up until 2007, before we had the C-17, the CC-177 Globemaster, we were somewhat challenged in our ability to respond in the way we have since we've obtained that aircraft. There are four elements to the strategic airlift capability that the C-17 brings to me as commander of 8 Wing, to my squadron commander who's in charge of deploying these aircraft, and ultimately to Canada as a whole: responsiveness, relevance, reliability, and reach. Those are four elements, I would argue, that it brings in spades, and that we benefit from as a service and as a way of projecting our values and our capabilities.
In a responsive manner, it can leave when we're told and when we need it to. We don't have to lease that capability anymore. In regard to relevance, with the size of loads that it can carry, whether it's for a humanitarian cause or to support our troops deployed on a combat mission, we're getting in volume the equipment they require. Also, when there's outsized cargo, etc., we know that we can bring it. On reliability, this capability is more than just an aircraft. It comes with a global sustainment and support partnership with other services that fly this aircraft, with Boeing. Last is its reach. With the distances it can fly and the speeds at which it can fly, we know that we can build air bridges—like we did for Op Renaissance into the Philippines—in really no other way.
That's really what a strategic airlift capability like the C-17's provides us: responsiveness, relevance, reliability, and reach. As I said, whether it's a combat or humanitarian mission that we're supporting, it can do it like no other capability, and we own the decision as to when and where it goes.