Mr. Chair, thank you very much.
My first question is to Admiral Finn.
I would like to take the opportunity to take us back to the discussion one more time on the Australian F-18 fighter jets. I want to put to you the rather unfortunate characterization of these aircraft by members of the opposition. The fact that these are aircraft have been flown before should in itself in no way denigrate our capability that will be created through the acquisition.
Canadians don't necessarily understand the way inspection cycles work and airframe fatigue works. When I served with the United Nations in Iraq, we routinely availed ourselves of airframes of the C-130s that were manufactured in the 1960s. In speaking with aircrew and mechanics, I learned that the central components are engines, engine maintenance, potential upgrades, avionics upgrades, and making sure that the main spars are within their fatigue lifespan. Could you inform the committee in a bit more detail what's involved? I'm quite happy to hear that we haven't negotiated individual tail numbers yet. What are expectations of the residual lifetime of these airframes? What are they going to be used for? Are the women and men who are going to fly them going to be safe?