Transport committee  Lockheed Martin has a competing product, and Lockheed Martin bid against Northrop Grumman for the U.S. military's long-endurance, multi-intelligence vehicle program. It's a U.S. Army program. Northrop Grumman won that competition, but the manufacturer of the air vehicle is Hybri

Transport committee  No, they're not operating. When this surveillance version for the U.S. Army flies, it will be the first flight of this model.

Transport committee  There will be a requirement for infrastructure for sure, just like you need airports to operate airplanes. At some point, you will need to put these vehicles in some facility for annual maintenance. The intention is for these things to operate in the field without the requiremen

Transport committee  It can land either vertically or like a conventional aircraft, and it requires about three to four times its length. If it's 100 metres long, it's going to need about 1000 feet to get airborne, fully loaded. The beauty of it is that you don't need a runway. You could literally la

Transport committee  Yes, we have seen research into this. The cost per ton per mile is cheaper than it is for conventional aircraft. It won't compete with rail and road transportation, but that's not the segment of the market we intend to go after.

Transport committee  No, but typically if a railway is built or you have a highway, then your transportation costs are minimal. Where it starts to make more sense is when you look at regions that don't have that infrastructure. So if you have to factor in the cost of $4 billion to install a railway s

Transport committee  We have approached Industry Canada and SADI. Our biggest challenge right now, as Didier just said, is that we are the first company globally that's going to introduce one of these things into service. We need to mitigate the risk associated with that. There are large investments

Transport committee  The reaction to what we're asking for is a little muted because of the current eligibility criteria for programs like this. SADI seems very focused on where all the intellectual property resides. If that doesn't come to Canada, the response is, “Sorry, we're not interested.” The

Transport committee  No, but in the process of that the manufacturing would be done here. The U.K. company would transfer manufacturing here and there would be a follow-on in terms of research and development into materials for the hull, engine propulsion systems, human factors, and all kinds of thin

Transport committee  I would say that the jobs associated with the creation of the centre of excellence will be in the thousands. Just for our operation alone we're probably looking at 400 people, and our company has rights to certain portions. We have certain commercial terms that are going to ensur

Transport committee  It's for manufacturing, assembly, all the in-service support, development of the training system, and all the exportation.

Transport committee  I'm not really sure of the scope of what you're asking. Are you asking how much it would cost if...?

Transport committee  Those recommendations aren't going to cost.... Really, what is going to cost is an effort on the part of the departments to get organized for this.

Transport committee  Yes, the funding stuff—

Transport committee  No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying a lot of the recommendations require the departments to do certain things.