Evidence of meeting #36 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was technology.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
I would like to begin my questioning with Discovery Air Innovations.
You mentioned there's a window of opportunity for Canada right now. Is there anyone else out there, any other country, nipping at our heels on this? Is there an urgency on this at the moment?
Could you elaborate on that?
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
I don't know if urgency is the right term, but there is definitely—
Conservative
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
I would say the U.S. is going to move on this significantly.
Conservative
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
Northrop Grumman is building manufacturing facilities. Most of the facilities are built. It will be easy to transfer the development of the commercial vehicle to that facility. We've had some interest from Russia, asking if we could come and set up shop, etc. These are very exploratory questions.
The U.K. is very interested in doing it, but I think it's pretty apparent that the state of their economy is pretty poor in comparison to ours and I don't think the company in the U.K. is going to have any success getting government support to develop that stuff in the U.K.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
With Northrop Grumman, did Congress appropriate any money for the construction?
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
I don't know how they're funding their facilities. I do know that they consider this technology to be part of their product line. They're very focused on the militarization of the technology. Obviously there are lots of applications there, but that's not what we're interested in. We're interested in commercial customers.
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
Hybrid Air was in the U.K. and came to the conclusion that there would be a lot of benefit from participating with an air operator that knows how to operate in remote environments, which is what we do. Half our company is based up in Yellowknife. These guys fly all over the Arctic. It's a pretty hard core environment to be operating aircraft in. So they looked at us as a natural fit. Once we started working together with them, it was pretty apparent that the teams gelled very well, and so it grew from there.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
If this committee could, say, write you a cheque for $50 million today—
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
—what would happen once you got that money? Just roll it out for me: what's your business plan?
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
We would finalize the design over the next six months. We would start manufacturing by the end of this year. We would work in parallel with a regulatory body to complete the certification so that as this vehicle is getting built and approaching its ready-to-fly point, in parallel we would be approaching our industry partners to set up specific technology demonstrations, delivery of goods to remote communities—to Attawapiskat, for example. Let's go there. Can we take goods in there and land on whatever their backyard looks like? Could you deliver health care services?
Let's prove that this stuff can work. We know there's a large market in the offshore oil industry. All the oil that's being explored in the future is going to be explored in places that are all extremely far offshore. Helicopters are not going to be the solution. So could we do a technology demonstration to demonstrate to the oil industry that we can get out to the rigs safely, transfer passengers and cargo, and return.
Most companies we deal with—mining, oil and gas companies, in particular—see the advantages of this thing. They're very safety conscious in the oil and gas industry, so a successful demonstration of that capability would go a long way.
Beyond that, we're into orders. For that investment, it's guaranteed that manufacturing will be done here in Canada and that Canadian companies would be participating in the support of this global fleet. So in terms of a return on investment, it would be quite large.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Thank you. I have to stop you there.
Would it be a fair statement to say that most of the aviation technology in the last 50 years or so has been developed militarily first and then brought to commercialization?
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
Yes, I would say that's a fairly accurate statement.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Is that a challenge in the sense that...? I see what you're trying to do and I like what you're trying to do, but are you trying to jump that process to get into the commercialized side of it before it's fully taken? I'm asking this because I sense that if the military doesn't make the investment, it's hard to get that initial start-up money that you need to do what you're doing to go to the commercial stage. Is that a fair statement?
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
The reality is that someone is going to have to commercialize the vehicle. The military is investing in the technology and they are going to demonstrate that the technology works to a certain degree and there are going to be transfers from that surveillance vehicle over to this commercial vehicle. For instance, that hover skirt landing system that Didier described in his opening remarks is not part of this surveillance vehicle, so that would be a new development.
I don't think we're jumping the gun on this.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
I'm not suggesting that but just saying that traditionally, it's been the investment by the military that has created the opportunity on the commercial side.
Vice-President, Government Services, Discovery Air Innovations
I would say if you looked at what happened with fixed-wing transportation, the Second World War was really what kick-started that. In the Second World War thousands of guys were trained as pilots; the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan built airfields from coast to coast in this country, and essentially you went from Sopwith Camels to jet transportation and long-range bombers within about a five-year time span. When the war ended, those problems were all solved and government investment did that.
