Mr. Chair, when it comes to the replacement of our fighters and especially when it comes to the interim, we are exploring this option.
Since we are talking about procurement, I want to remind members that the Royal Canadian Air Force has been risk-managing our commitments for a very long time.
When it comes to the capability gap, members should also note that we were talking about Davie shipyards just recently. That was a capability gap that we had, but it turned into a capability loss. We want to make sure that we do not get into another situation now where our capability gap turns into a capability loss. That is why we are moving ahead for a full replacement in a full competition, investing in the legacy fleet, exploring the options of the interim fleet as well, and making sure that we have enough pilots and technicians.
We need to be able to move ahead and be proactive in this manner so that we do not lose our capability as we did with our joint supply ships.