National Defence committee  And some of those frigates will be in maintenance.

National Defence committee  Yes, that's probably a fair characterization.

National Defence committee  HMCS Windsor on the east coast has just gone in for a battery change. HMCS Chicoutimi will be over this weld issue that we have, hopefully by the end of the year, and deployable next year. Once HMCS Chicoutimi is deployable, we'll turn our attention to HMCS Victoria in terms of addressing the weld issues that she currently has.

National Defence committee  They're warships in the sense that they're armed. They're doing extraordinary work in terms of the war on drugs in the Caribbean as part of the Joint Interagency Task Force South, in terms of sovereignty, and in working with other government departments. They're playing an invaluable role in terms of the constabulary aspects of the Royal Canadian Navy's mandate.

National Defence committee  Yes. She's not deployable. She's still able to be used for training activities. She'll be paid off at the beginning of next year.

National Defence committee  At any given time, we have have 10 of them that are available for service, and one per coast will be in maintenance.

National Defence committee  The maritime coastal defence vessels are basically constabulary, so in terms of combat capability, there wouldn't be any combat capability in those vessels.

National Defence committee  Yes. It's a phenomenal question. We often are. We do lead internationally. I've had the opportunity to be the deputy commander of RIMPAC, the world's largest maritime exercise. I've had the opportunity to be the maritime component commander for RIMPAC. We were very fortunate to have Rear Admiral Scott Bishop as the deputy commander of the last RIMPAC.

National Defence committee  As we discussed previously with respect to security and the classification of those types of questions, we can take that on notice and get you the information.

National Defence committee  The Coast Guard and the RCN have been working very closely together over the last several years on interoperability. Early next month, we're having Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy staff talks, just to make sure that we're actually enabling each other. Two weeks ago, there was a conference that the Naval Association of Canada put on.

National Defence committee  I was at the International Sea Power Symposium about three weeks ago in Newport, Rhode Island, where the Chief of Naval Operations for the United States has a number of chiefs of navy and chiefs of coast guard convene to discuss the future of the maritime environment and some of the emerging trends that we collectively need to be aware of.

National Defence committee  The requirement is for three. Right now, the project is to deliver two, with an option for three. In terms of how we will mitigate the situation, we will continue to develop strategies, as we have, recognizing that we've had only two for quite some time now.

National Defence committee  Industry can bring scales of economy to bear. There are strengths in terms of what industry can provide in terms of the maintenance and repair of our ships. Once again, as I indicated, we will be understanding those risks, those challenges, in going forward, and then we will be making sure the solutions we implement take those risks into consideration.

National Defence committee  The thought process...?

National Defence committee  We will consistently monitor it. As I indicated previously, we've seen other navies in the world increase their dependencies on industry and we've seen how that has worked, or not. I think the information we've seen thus far is that you need to ensure you fully understand the risks that accrue as a result of having full dependencies on industry.