Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise on a question that I first raised on November 23. It was a general question about aircraft in the Department of National Defence.
We talked about Hercules planes that could not get off the ground and could not make it from point A to point B. We talked about the Auroras which cannot fly too low and cannot fly too high. There is only one elevation they can fly at.
I would like to hone in on the Sea King question today. We all know the Sea Kings are very tired and old. They have been refurbished. They have new skins and now they have new lives but even with that, the minister of defence says that their useful life is only until 2005 before we get new helicopters to replace them.
We know that new helicopters are necessary now, especially because we have spent all this money on frigates that were designed to have these new helicopters. Without the helicopters they are really only about 50% effective. We are most anxious to see those helicopters supplied, but the problem is the new helicopter delivery time is eight years. The Sea Kings only have a useful life until 2005 and if we ordered the helicopters today, which we have not done yet, they would not be here until 2008. There is a hole between 2005 and 2008.
My question for the parliamentary secretary is, what will the department of defence do in the time period between the earliest delivery date of 2008 and the expiry of useful life of the Sea Kings in 2005? What happens in the three year hole?