Public Accounts committee  We've issued, as the government announced, a letter of request to the U.S. government through the U.S. Department of Defense, and they are providing information back to us. We would expect that by the fall. We will then proceed to do a full life-cycle costing analysis based on th

Public Accounts committee  We're happy to provide—as we're required in law to provide—costing information we have to the parliamentary budget officer. At the moment, we don't have a full life-cycle cost estimate to share with him.

Public Accounts committee  That's part of what the process is: to determine, when Boeing would be able to provide these aircraft, would they have the capability Canada needs and at a cost that's acceptable to the Government of Canada?

Public Accounts committee  Eighteen.

Public Accounts committee  I beg your pardon?

Public Accounts committee  Not with an indicative estimate. We've issued the letter of request to the U.S. government to get that information.

Public Accounts committee  We will do the costing analysis based on the data that we get from the U.S. government and from Boeing, based on the requirements that we have for the aircraft.

Public Accounts committee  The numbers we use will come from the U.S. government.

Public Accounts committee  Boeing will feed their work into the U.S. government. The U.S. government will do their analysis and review of it and submit it formally to Canada.

Public Accounts committee  As I said, it will depend when the U.S. government responds to our letter of request. We're expecting that in the fall.

Public Accounts committee  We're doing the planning now. The air force is doing the planning around technicians, pilots, and infrastructure for the Super Hornets. Some of those skills will be transferable. Depending on what the winning aircraft is in the competition, there obviously will be different skill

Public Accounts committee  That's not quite what I said. I said that some of those skills are likely transferable. There will be some skills required, depending on which aircraft wins the competition; they will be needed. Each aircraft requires different training skills, equipment skills, and mechanics.

Public Accounts committee  I said that we're doing the planning and analysis for it.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. There's a group in the department in the air force that will look at both the interim fighter and the final replacement.

Public Accounts committee  When I came two years ago, DRMIS was partly advanced. It was a bit stalled. We've invested considerably more money in the last two years to solidify DRMIS and use it more aggressively as our main information system. For example, the navy uses DRMIS for parts, repair scheduling,