National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. We initially bought 138 CF-18s. That was in the early 1980s. We still had a fairly large footprint in NATO bases in Europe and so on. With the consolidation in early 2000, when we brought those assets back from Europe, there was a decision made that o

National Defence committee  That is correct. The intention is to overlap between the two.

National Defence committee  I'm probably not in the best position to talk about the details of in-service support and long-term maintenance. Mr. Ross would probably have more details. My understanding is that the cost of long-term in-service support will be in the range of $250 million to $300 million per y

National Defence committee  That's one of the powerful incentives of this program. There are a couple things that the F-35 does differently from previous fighter fleets. One is that the airplane never becomes obsolete. Nine nations in the partnership have invested in long-term software upgrades. It's a join

National Defence committee  It would give us a combat-ready airplane from the day we acquire it to the day we retire it.

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. The year 2016 remains one of our planning figures as far as a goal to negotiate towards and start from is concerned. As I pointed out previously, Canada has flexibility as to when we actually launch into full-rate production and acquisition. The year

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. Again, Mr. Ross would probably be in the best position to answer questions about timelines for procurement. My understanding right now is that although you're hearing all kinds of different numbers in regard to project delays, we are not concerned at

National Defence committee  The point is that we understand the challenge of any production delays, and we're watching that very closely. We have flexibility in our program. The year 2016 was a start point for us, but it's not a fail point, if you know what I mean. We can actually increase production in cer

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. I'll go with the basic enhancement that the C-17 has brought to the CF and, of course, to Canada. What the C-17 embodies is the ability to respond quickly and effectively to either domestic situations or international situations, whereas in the past

National Defence committee  Thank you.

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. I can't really speak to the process with tenders and competition. That's really not my domain. Mr. Ross would be better placed to explain the rationale and process. All I can say is that in 2010 we completed the statement of requirements and the optio

National Defence committee  We would never fly our planes that would be at risk for falling out of the sky, sir. However, there is an end of life to the F-18. It depends on how much you fly it. But currently, with the investment we've made, we do have flexibility to adjust our acquisition of the F-35 to su

National Defence committee  I will just go back to the first point you made. Our F-18s are absolutely safe and viable. That's why government spent billions of dollars on the upgrade. The airplanes will fly. When they fly they will be at their best capacity. The issue is, as everybody understands, that as ai

National Defence committee  Yes, sir. We are confident that we will be able to maintain our current commitments all the way to 2020 with the current fleet of F-18s.

National Defence committee  I'm not sure what the plan B notion is for us. We have a commitment to a program, like we do for any other programs. Whether it's the C-17 or C-130, we're proceeding with that program with due diligence, as fast as we can. We will make the right decisions. It's the most effective