National Defence committee  The C-27J we developed with Lockheed Martin because we were going to propose a family of airplanes. What we did is we had the airframe of the well-proven G.222, which was an older aircraft--and we sold 120 of them around the world before that was militarized--and we put in the same engine, the same propeller, and the same avionics suite that the C-130J has.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  I'll give you a range, because it really depends. Sometimes we have an acceleration, if you need it, of the first aircraft. But normally speaking, we're talking about between 12 months and 18 months. That's the answer I could give you now, given the configuration that I imagine is going to happen.

National Defence committee  Yes, it was the same question I think you--

National Defence committee  I hope I haven't confused you, but I'll try to answer.

National Defence committee  Basically, if I have the whole contract, I can go for a certain availability rate. If instead there's a situation, like with the Italian air force, where they do most of the hands-on work, we are required to provide them with spares in order to allow them to get to that availability rate.

National Defence committee  In that case, what I was saying is that we have an aircraft that is very reliable and maintainable. It doesn't break often. And therefore that is a standard across the situation. And we guarantee. Overall--and let's go to the American contract--we guarantee availability. We contract for 80% plus availability.

National Defence committee  I'll start. If I understood the question correctly, the answer is simply no, in the sense that our product is designed for a life cycle of 30 years, and therefore all our air forces.... And even when we get to the limit, as aircraft now tend to become older and older, there are always ways to look at the cycles that have been utilized and extend their life.

National Defence committee  I'll start with the last one, which is easier. Our airplane is 60% American content, so the parts are readily available. We are already servicing a fleet that goes up to 38 joint cargo aircraft, and we have a maintenance centre, maintenance organization, training, and we're fielding aircraft on the ground.

National Defence committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am Massimo Tarantola, chief operating officer of Alenia North America. I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to discuss the fixed-wing SAR program, and Alenia's C-27J Spartan solution. I will first introduce my colleagues.