National Defence committee  Mr. Chairman, the original statement of requirement made frequent references to the existing fleets, to the Buffalo and the C-130. We were pointing out in the report that we would like the fixed-wing SAR fleet to provide a certain level of service that can be expected and that it should not be tied to the constraints that the current fleets are capable of delivering.

National Defence committee  Because it is highly unlikely that an aircraft that will not require any modifications can be identified. Given certain mandatory requirements that we advocated, we felt that the aircraft that will be procured will require some modifications, and with those are certification requirements.

National Defence committee  We do mention in the report the need to harness the data that's available. In fact, we do mention that there are attempts to analyze the existing data in more depth, and this is not yet available using knowledge-based systems. The National Search and Rescue Secretariat is pushing for that, and this may not be available.

National Defence committee  Frankly, I don't think so.

National Defence committee  No. Size also matters.

National Defence committee  Exactly.

National Defence committee  If I may, Mr. Chairman, comment on this, we were advocating in our report to develop a capability-based requirement, which would not refer to an existing platform. It was simply what is the level of service expected, what the aircraft needs to carry, how far, and so forth. It was our intention not to refer to any existing aircraft.

National Defence committee  Specifically, we were to avoid providing solutions.

National Defence committee  Perhaps this is a question that I should address, since the people who were doing the work are in my institute. I would say that we were under contract to Public Works, not to DND. All the communications with any members of the Department of National Defence first had to be cleared through Public Works.

National Defence committee  We have commented on the constraints in the report. We mentioned the operating bases, the posture, the 15-hour crew duty time. We have demonstrated that all these constraints have an impact on the aircraft range and speed. Therefore, they require further analysis, including the use of Canadian Forces personnel exclusively, which was the constraint of the SOR.

National Defence committee  Yes, that is correct.

National Defence committee  In our report we concluded that consideration should be given to the use of non-CF personnel, because this would open available solutions and the industry could offer a broader range of solutions for the Canadian search and rescue. We didn't go any further than that. However, we pointed out that the helicopter wing of search and rescue allows that.

National Defence committee  I'm aware of the content of the report, Mr. Chairman. What you find in the report is an example of where the choice of the four operating bases seems a constraint, and indeed it has an impact on the response time. If you look at the number of incidents, the change from Greenwood to Gander would have allowed for a much faster response time to quite a few incidents.

National Defence committee  It's true that the current aircraft have probably extended what was the original design goal. However, through appropriate maintenance actions, they have been maintained up until now, and they are still airworthy. However, there is obviously a limit to where you can carry that. And indeed the costs—

National Defence committee  Well, that depends on how much money you want to put into continuing these aircraft and maintaining them. You can replace structures. You can replace wings. It is all very costly. There comes a point where it is more cost-effective to replace a fleet rather than to continue to operate it.