Mr. Chair, our aging CF-18s need to be replaced. Even if we have the competition, that can take up to five years, and the transition of the fleet takes much longer.
We have done the studies in terms of the investments that are needed into the legacy fleet and we are investing into that, but there is no guarantee that the airplanes can actually last that long. What we require is to make sure we have the right equipment to be able to do this transition. This is one of the reasons that if we cannot currently live up to our obligations to NORAD and NATO commitments and we have absolutely no guarantee moving forward—yes, I have confidence we can move forward, but that is not a guarantee—we have to make sure that we have the necessary equipment. We cannot continue to risk-manage our commitments. We owe this to the Canadian Armed Forces.
We are going to be replacing the permanent fleet through a full competition and we are going to be making additional investment into our air force—which, to me, is a good thing—to make sure that we have all the necessary aircraft for our men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces.