Mr. Chair, as I indicated a number of times now, this capability was to improve the spares and the serviceability of the existing fleet. While they may have the same airframe and some—some—of the same capabilities, such as a hoist, this is not the purpose for which these particular helicopters were designed. In fact, they are spares. They are boxes of parts, essentially, and certainly not assembled for the purposes of search and rescue.
I come back to the issue of Cyclones, though. All Canadian Forces air assets can be used—commandeered, if you will—on occasion, if necessary, for the purposes of search and rescue. That is a commonly known fact within the Canadian Forces.
Most importantly, though, let us spend some time talking about the SAR techs themselves and what they are able to do. These individuals give so freely of themselves and are so prepared to go above and beyond. They are fearless to a fault. They exhibit daily courage. The training regimen is akin to what Olympic athletes do, and it allows them to perform these feats of courage and heroics in terrible conditions in response to search and rescue incidents that occur with frequency across the country. They often put themselves at great risk in response to those calls.
I want to report to the hon. member, in response to an earlier question, the serviceability is approximately 60%, meaning that eight of the 14 Canadian Forces CH-149s are available on any given day.