Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can actually speak quickly.
With me I have Lieutenant-General André Deschamps, Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force; Kevin Lindsey, Chief Financial Officer; and Dan Ross, ADM Materiel.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity this morning.
I'll share my time briefly with the Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Acquiring major military capabilities is complex. It takes many years.
In his report, the Auditor General underscores the innovative and unique nature of the joint strike fighter program and notes, “There is no single set of federal policies or rules that govern participation in an international initiative such as the JSF Program”. We agree with the Auditor General on this point. We are confident that the government's seven-point plan sets out a strong footing to move forward on the AG's concerns.
The government has been involved with the joint strike fighter program since 1997. With the advantage of hindsight, and with the AG's observations in mind, there are clearly things we would have managed differently in the program and things that all of us could have done better.
On the matter of costing, there are three key components: acquisition—