National Defence committee  Obviously, as we are procuring the F-35s, the specifics of the course that will be required to train our pilots are going to be developed. We'll learn a lot from our allies and partners that have already trained their pilots on this platform, so we're not necessarily going to rei

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, obviously I can't speculate on why it missed. There could be a multitude of reasons that I'm not privy to, based on what the pilot was seeing in the cockpit, the type of missile shot that he was taking and the quality of that missile shot. That being said, missiles do

National Defence committee  Absolutely, Mr. Chair. There are a number of factors that are considered. As the deputy minister mentioned, where it's located and whether there are any collateral risks on the ground.... Is it an area where you can engage with an air-to-air missile that is going to be safe if i

National Defence committee  I would add that we can see the small objects and the big ones at the same time. As the Chief of Staff said, it's a lot of work for people to analyze what they see on their screens or in their surveillance systems. Technology, such as artificial intelligence, which is advancing v

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, absolutely, joint task force north—and this is a characteristic of the regional joint task force structure we have within Canada—has great links with the local community, so they were engaged on a daily basis with a couple of first nations within the north, particularl

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, our CF-18s are more than capable of shooting down some of these high-altitude objects that we have detected. It was simply, as the chief of the defence staff stated, a matter of the “best sensor, best shooter” for the particular objective of the day. Really, that is w

National Defence committee  Essentially, for the Yukon balloon, there was a restricted operating zone that was established, which is normal operating procedure for NORAD whenever there is an incident like this, where an investigation has to occur. For the first event, which I think you referred to as well,