National Defence committee  General Ward wasn't in the job at that time. I was aware of some of the requirements discussions that had taken place, but I have to say, sir, it was part of the normal debate on whether we had our requirements right. I don't recall any discussion about whether they were Airbus A400s or Boeing C-17s.

National Defence committee  It was about, “Do you really need to carry what type of equipment across the Atlantic Ocean, refuel once, and go into Africa or Afghanistan?”

National Defence committee  The Chief of the Air Staff.

National Defence committee  I have been to Afghanistan and I've talked to many of those soldiers face to face and spent many sleepless nights over the past year making sure we had the right stuff there for our troops there. We review those things every two weeks from top to bottom; it gets the top priority from my army engineering equipment staff.

National Defence committee  If it's largely a requirement, if someone wants to fly a particular plane, the vice-chief runs that process with General Hincke and General Ward. As we discussed with the challenge function, it would be very unlikely that an individual would have an easy ride achieving that objective unless they could absolutely defend why, in operational performance terms, that was appropriate.

National Defence committee  Yes. I challenge that every day. When I see someone writing things to buy that thing.... I will be very honest. I had a challenge with the army recently on their overspecifying of trucks. I said, “Come back to me and tell me what you want it to do. Don't tell me how many mirrors and how big the mirror has to be.”

National Defence committee  Often it is the communications equipment, for which, in some cases, Transport Canada safety regulations may be different from European or American ones. In some cases we may want a multi-mission aircraft so that we can do search and rescue with it and put a winch in a door, which the U.S. army wouldn't do.

National Defence committee  Absolutely, and you have to be very vigilant to the degree of what you'd call customization, because if that has never been done before, that company passes on a non-recurring engineering design cost to you. If you haven't accommodated that in your policy approval and your submission to cabinet, you have funding issues.

National Defence committee  It would be fair to say that the requirements process has been ongoing for many years for Hercules and other projects.

National Defence committee  You mean as a personal preference?

National Defence committee  That would be pretty tough.

National Defence committee  Certainly, yes.

National Defence committee  I'm not sure what spec writing you are referring to.

National Defence committee  That's right.

National Defence committee  It's a team. We do everything very closely together, working with our colleagues in industry and in the secretariat as well. It is not just that they look after the contracting and we look after the parts of the process. They clearly are the contracting authority for the Government of Canada.