Mr. Chair, thank you very much.
Minister, thank you for being here along with your senior team. It's great to have you back.
The Canadian Forces are about the people we have. It's about excellence at the level of individuals, teams, and leadership, but it's also about making sure that we give our Canadian Forces the best equipment to make sure they can be at the top of their game.
I wanted to take the opportunity to ask you a bit more about two appropriation items. Those are the fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft, and also the LAV III upgrade project. The voted appropriations are $161 million and $57 million, respectively. Can you tell the committee about the Airbus C295W, and also about the LAV, and how important those two assets are in the respective areas of search and rescue and overseas operations?