Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
My name is Pierre Pyun, and I am the vice-president of government and industry affairs at Bombardier.
Bombardier is a world-leading business aircraft manufacturer, headquartered in Canada. We employ directly more than 12,000 people in our Canadian operations. They are proud to participate in the Canadian aerospace industry and to contribute to making it one of the most pre-eminent, advanced technological sectors in Canada and a leading aerospace hub on the international scene. They're also extremely proud to have the opportunity to support Canada's national security objectives.
My remarks will focus on Bombardier's capabilities and impact in Canada and our contribution to Canada's defence sovereignty and the defence industrial strategy.
Bombardier has existed in Canada for nearly 85 years. Innovation is in our DNA. We have proudly developed and received certification for 30 aircraft programs in the last 30 years to the highest performance and safety standards. We have established a strong working relationship with Transport Canada.
Bombardier contributes around $7.4 billion Canadian to Canada's GDP annually. We support close to 50,000 jobs across the country. Bombardier's success is made possible by a robust network of more than 1,500 suppliers from coast to coast, demonstrating that the company is at the heart of a thriving national ecosystem.
Our expertise in business aviation allows us to contribute to airborne defence. An important pillar of our company is to leverage our portfolio of Challenger and Global aircraft with our unparalleled engineering and maintenance expertise to offer business jet-based solutions for defence missions. We have decades of experience in this space. Bombardier is known to be a collaborative, trusted and flexible partner. We have built long-term partnerships with governments and militaries worldwide. We have joined forces with the world's most advanced mission system integrators and providers.
Bombardier delivers multi-mission, long-range, high-performance aircraft platforms used for different solutions, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; airborne early warning; signals intelligence and electronic warfare; medical evacuation; and more. Business aircraft have become increasingly attractive as platforms for defence applications, because they are cost-effective in terms of acquisition, operation and maintenance costs compared with the legacy platforms, the larger commercial airliners. It's also because of their performance—for instance, the speed at which they fly and the range and altitude at which they fly of 40,000 feet to 45,000 feet. The Global 8000 is a case in point. It has a range of 8,000 nautical miles, connecting almost any two points around the world. Its certified speed is slightly below supersonic, at Mach 0.95.
We welcomed last week's federal government announcement to invest in the Canadian aerospace industry by favouring a solution based on the Bombardier Global 6500, a made-in-Canada aircraft. We also congratulate Saab on being selected as the preferred supplier for Canada's airborne early warning and control fleet, with its GlobalEye solution.
This announcement further highlights the versatility of the Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft as well as its growing role in Canada. Last December, the federal government announced the purchase of six Global 6500s to enhance the RCAF's multi-mission air transport capability. This March, the National Research Council of Canada announced it had acquired a Global 6500 aircraft for critical research and development activities.
Bombardier's business aircraft are chosen around the world for defence missions. Some examples among many include Germany, for the PEGASUS program for signals intelligence; Sweden, for ISR and multi-role government transportation missions; the U.S., with the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force in the HADES and BACN programs; and Switzerland, for medical evacuation and government transportation.
We have a strong reputation around the world for providing reliable and robust aircraft to perform critical, demanding missions. We have expertise in complex modifications, certifications and special mission integration. We also have a worldwide network of maintenance support infrastructure, not only for our civil customers but also for our government and military customers.
We are pleased to see that Canada is leveraging its own resources to strengthen its defence capabilities. This is very encouraging for Bombardier as one of the many proud Canadian companies that have much to offer this country.
As I said earlier, nothing would make our employees prouder than knowing the planes they build here in Canada are being used to defend our country and our borders.
Bombardier welcomes Canada's first defence industrial strategy and looks forward to working closely with the federal government to strengthen our country's sovereign defence capabilities. We are convinced Bombardier still has a lot to offer Canada in the years to come. Very few countries have the capacity to design, build, certify and maintain aircraft. This is a strategic capability we can all be very proud of.
We see the recent launch of the defence industrial strategy by the Canadian government as very positive, not only for Bombardier but also for the Canadian industry. The defence industrial strategy sends a strong signal that defence investments are intended to be an economic and innovation driver for the country, while ensuring—