National Defence committee  It really can't start until the procurement process has determined a winner. For example, there are six major bidders on our heavy armoured vehicle for Afghanistan, and that request for proposal is on the street. I can't go and have our maintainers start training on one of thos

National Defence committee  Yes. Obviously it is still not approved by government, nor by the State Department. We are working with the Department of Foreign Affairs on the whole broader requirement. From a defence point of view, it is critical that our key in-service support companies have that dual nati

National Defence committee  Perhaps I could give an example. The army has a requirement for certain direct-fire weapons, and there are only several of these built in the world. The intellectual property of how they're built is very closely guarded by these countries. I can't write a specification that tel

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  Yes, I will try. Let me give you a very old example that actually ended in a performance-based process. In the 1980s, we were trying to buy a low-level air defence system for our forces in Germany. Our engineers had tried to write a specification on how to build an air defence s

National Defence committee  It applies to both.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  I believe that some of the equipment was very large. I think there are some engineer water purifiers that are very specific and won't go in a C-17. There are very few pieces left.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  We worked hard with our colleagues in Industry Canada on these programs, and I think very cooperatively. They don't interfere at all. They understand the high level of performance requirements of the Canadian Forces and are very supportive, and I work closely with my fellow ADMs;

National Defence committee  I'll take a cut at that list first, Dr. Martin, and perhaps my colleagues will add a couple of comments. Number one is what could we do to improve the overall process jointly with our colleagues across government. I talked about some things that we think are on our watch and we'

National Defence committee  We can provide a written response.

National Defence committee  The third one is leasing Globemasters and then waiting for our Hercules, if I understand the question. I wasn't actually aware that we could lease Globemasters, and the United States didn't offer that when we put out our proposal. Waiting for Hercules is very challenging because

National Defence committee  [Inaudible--Editor]...and it was extremely...I wouldn't say acrimonious, but they were tough discussions and contentious issues. The key issue has always been, what is the minimum level of service to Canadians in search and rescue? The air force's push-back was, you have to ide