National Defence committee  It hasn't happened yet that I'm aware of on any projects, but I will ask my colleague, Troy, to correct me if I've got that wrong. It's more of a theoretical concern that will eventually begin to impact some of the projects that come online. Inflation is real, so as items move to the right, you will see some erosion there and there are choices to be made.

National Defence committee  It's a difficult one in a theoretical environment, because you could look at just fewer trucks—that's an easy one—or you could look at having the same number of trucks but less capability. My colleague, the vice chief, may offer something here, but that's a trade-off that would be made only with the direction of the experts who understand what the requirements truly are.

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. First, National Defence has given Ukraine equipment that we could part with. The equipment was effectively spare or surplus, so most of what was provided was equipment that we felt we could do without. There are some exceptions to that. The ammunition stocks will need to be replenished.

National Defence committee  I will talk about two things. On the one hand, as we've said before, the process to replace the fighter jets is under way, and we will have news about that in the coming weeks or months. At the same time, we have ongoing projects to continually upgrade the CF-18. We will be flying those planes for years to come, and it's important that they remain as modern as possible, because they will be a key asset from a NORAD perspective while we wait for the replacement planes to arrive.

National Defence committee  Unfortunately, I can't share that information with you at this time, but I will at a later date.

National Defence committee  Generally speaking, this cost relates to tactical airlift. It's on an as-demanded basis. It is a bit of “if and when requested”. That's the funding that has been set aside. There are support staff involved in that activity as well. It is really just a placeholder for tactical airlift as required, generally speaking.

National Defence committee  I think that when there's deployment in these types of activities, it is never just the Canadian Armed Forces. There are other players as well—Global Affairs, as already mentioned. Sometimes we involve colleagues from the RCMP and other departments as well. When and as required, we certainly engage other departments and have those discussions, but every opportunity is unique, so depending on the request that has been made and the type of mission, that may dictate who we engage with in terms of colleagues from other departments.

National Defence committee  There is coordination to a certain extent, and this is more of a theoretical answer. If it's largely one department that's footing the bill, we would carry the can for other departments. If you're contemplating something where you would see other departments requiring resources, there's one of two possibilities.

National Defence committee  I think on that question we've already said what we can today in terms of the fact that the government ran a competitive process. There are two bidders left in the running, and news will come in the following weeks in terms of what the next steps are.

National Defence committee  I think, Mr. Chair, I'll go back to the initial answer, that we are still nailing down exact design requirements with our service providers. In terms of studies on speed, we'll know more as time passes on.

National Defence committee  I'm certainly not aware of anyone being fired. I will turn to my colleague, Troy, to see if he wishes to add anything in terms of U.S. eyes only and so on.

National Defence committee  Polar icebreakers actually belong to the Coast Guard, so I'm not in a position to comment on when their construction might start.

National Defence committee  I'm going to likely turn to the vice chief in a moment on this one. As we've already touched on, there is ongoing work to look at modernizing NORAD continental defence, etc. The Arctic is obviously a big part of that. In terms of exact capability, it's too early to say what will be required and what will be put in place.

National Defence committee  I will start and then turn to the vice. I'm not aware of any outstanding [Technical difficulty—Editor]. Obviously, any decision for the government to employ the CAF in a peacekeeping mission comes in concert with discussion with our colleagues at Global Affairs Canada. Africa is an important area.

National Defence committee  Like anything else, our job is to develop options. Obviously we're having ongoing discussions with allies, because they're also curious about what the government's plans are there. It will be done in collaboration with our allies, but I can't offer more in terms of views on what should be spent.