Government Operations committee  I guess the way I'd answer—

Government Operations committee  I'll do my best. What I would say is that I can talk about the capability of Gripen. I can't talk about the various countries in terms of why they choose different things, but I will say, about the capability of Gripen, how formidable it is, how relevant, upgradable and current it is.

Government Operations committee  Gripen is designed to operate in the Arctic. It's designed to operate in extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, but it's really proven to be operable in the Arctic. As you know, operating in Canada's far north is incredibly taxing and incredibly hard on, not only the equipment but also the people and everything else.

Government Operations committee  From Saab's perspective, certainly, the Canadian procurement process is very well defined. It's highly bureaucratic, but it's very well defined. I think we have a very good appreciation for it. From a disappointment perspective from me personally, I think the Gripen for Canada offer is second to none.

Government Operations committee  The only thing I'll add is that, as part of the future fighter capability program and our offer, we recognize that as a very key component. We've had quite a few discussions and meetings with respect to how to support them from an academic perspective and bring them some of the talent and some of the skills sets that would leverage them and add to their future.

Government Operations committee  To further Simon's explanation, when Canada and any country buys a fighter jet, they're buying a fighter jet for an extended period of time. They're looking at it for decades. What's relevant today is not necessarily relevant tomorrow from a threat perspective, a technology perspective and other perspectives.

Government Operations committee  I would emphasize that it's far greater than just doing the maintenance. It's also doing the sustainment and the upgrade path. When you look at Canadians and how we use our equipment, we use that equipment for a very long period of time. It's probably much longer than what was originally anticipated.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that question, but we're not really privy to that level of what they're negotiating and what the final result will be. The only thing we can talk about is what we've committed to Canada. What we've committed to Canada is a fully compliant offer for 88 aircraft, including all of the training and all of the support structures.

Government Operations committee  Again, as per our commitment during the RFP process, we were committed to the 2025-27 time frame with respect to the initial operating capability and full operating capability by 2031. Really, nothing has changed.

Government Operations committee  By 2031, all 88 had to be delivered.

Government Operations committee  To echo Simon's position, we certainly felt that the process was very well defined. There was a lot of engagement and a lot of interface with the customer. Up until the latter part of last year, where the customer moved to identify that we would offer a fully compliant bid, including interoperability and security...so we were able to demonstrate that we could meet the Two Eyes and Five Eyes requirements—

Government Operations committee  Yes. We passed all of those requirements. I think it was the end of last year when the Government of Canada announced that both us and our competitor met those requirements. That said, one of the things I'll draw attention to is that, post that period of time, they entered into more of a quiet period, I would say, where there wasn't a lot of back-and-forth.

National Defence committee  And our role here is not really to comment on political decisions or to comment on Canada's political decision, but to give you as much information as possible as it relates to what the alternatives are and what some of the capabilities are out there so that you have the information.

National Defence committee  First and foremost, we're concerned with mission success and the requirements from a Canadian perspective. If the F-35 doesn't meet all of those requirements, then maybe a mixed fleet might. That's what we're putting on the table.

National Defence committee  If I could offer an amendment to that, or some additional information, the jobs would span both elements. The jobs would span the manufacturing environment, but what we're really concerned about are the long-term jobs and the sustainable jobs, and those are the high-tech jobs that will take this thing through sustainment for the next 40 years.