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Transcription
Annonce concernant la flotte de transport aérien tactique
12h45 - le 22 novembre 2005
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Note: Cette transcription est présentée dans la langue utilisée lors de la conférence de presse. Elle vous est fournie à titre d'information seulement. Il n'y a pas de traduction disponible.
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L'Hon. Bill Graham: Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As I believe you probably know, minister Brison, the Chief of the Defence Staff and myself are here today to announce that the government is moving forward with the process to purchase new tactical lift aircraft to replace significant parts of our aging Hercules aircraft fleet. The procurement process for this will be competitive, fair and transparent. It will also be faster, simpler and more efficient than previous acquisitions. Last spring, through the defence policy statement and the $12.6 billion in additional funding provided to Canadian Forces in the federal budget, this government outlines a bold new vision for the Canadian Forces. General Hillier and I have been working on implementing this, in effect moving from vision to mission. New equipment is central to the vision. It is absolutely essential to the mission. You will see more significant defence procurements in the near future, but we start today.
Il arrive par ailleurs que certaines acquisitions s'avèrent nécessaires pour combler des besoins pressants. C'est le cas qui nous occupe aujourd'hui. Quiconque à un intérêt, ne serait-ce que secondaire, pour les questions de la défense sait que nos aéronefs CC-130 Hercules constituent l'épine dorsale des forces canadiennes. Il s'agit cependant d'une flotte qui doit être renouvelée. Le remplacement des aéronefs qui la composent est une question d'urgence et nous devons agir maintenant. Un des principaux objectifs que je vise depuis que je suis ministre de la défense nationale est la simplification de notre processus d'acquisition. On admet volontiers tant au sein des forces canadienne qu'à l'échelle du gouvernement et dans le secteur privé, que le processus est beaucoup trop long, qu'il est coûteux, inefficace et compliqué. C'est le moment où nous devons trouver un système pour mieux servir les forces canadiennes et le gouvernement. En cette ère de changements technologiques rapides, les forces militaires canadiennes ne peuvent plus se permettre de faire appel au modèle d'acquisition du passé.
Other militaries around the world are also embarking on fundamental changes the way in which they purchase equipment. This acquisition will begin to point the way towards a new direction in defence procurement in Canada based upon a very small number of minimum performance requirements established by our military operational experts. The processes which professor -- minister Brison will address will be fair and transparent. He could be a professor, he is very bright.
L'Hon. Scott Brison: Doctor.
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Doctor, yes, Doctor Brison, well-known professor down in Hants where he lectures on subjects relating to elections and things, but he will today address us about the process, this process which will be quicker and less expensive than previous procurements and Canadian industry will benefit significantly from this acquisition, regardless of which company is awarded the contract. The total value of the contract is estimated to be between around $4 and $5 billion, including the 20-year in service support contract. Canadian industrial and regional benefits equal 100% of the contract purchase. The industrial and regional benefit package has been designed by Industry Canada and agreed to by defence officials. We have begun the process of transforming and revitalizing the Canadian Forces to become more relevant, more responsive and more effective. We are committed to getting the men and women of the Canadian Forces the equipment they need to do the work that we ask them to do on behalf of Canada and of Canadians and as I have stated, one of our top priorities must be to improve the procurement process to get this equipment in a quicker, more effective manner. By moving forward with the purchase of new tactical lift aircraft today, we are beginning to deliver on these commitments. Now before I ask minister Brison to speak, I would like actually to ask General Hillier if he could speak to you for a few moments about the operational requirements which have dictated both what we are seeking to acquire here, but also the way in which we are going about doing it. General Hillier?
Gén Rick Hillier: Minister, thank you. Merci beaucoup, messieurs dames. Ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et messieurs, c'est facile à dire aujourd'hui que les avions tactiques, l'annoncement que monsieur Graham vous a dit, et l'investissement est absolument essentiel pour les forces canadiennes et pour les opérations à l'étranger. On ne peut pas continuer à conduire des opérations à l'étranger ou ici au Canada domestiquement.
Without the investments in our tactical airlift fleet, we cannot continue to conduct operations either around the world or on behalf of Canadians back home here in our great country. Our Hercules fleet right now is rapidly going downhill. We know that three years and a little bit more than that, the fleet starts to become almost completely inoperational and we will have to stop supporting operations or less not be able to start them - or else, not be able to start them. We know that this is the kind of things that men and women need. This is a real lifeline to them, no matter where they are deployed and is a commitment that we cannot ask any other country to meet for the men and women that we put on the ground in high-risk situations. They need the tactical airlift to do their job. They need the tactical airlift that works to do their job in a high-risk situation and they need the tactical airlift that works so when they are in high-risk situations, they have it, not 15 years from now, not 10 years from now and actually not even five years from now. They need it as soon as possible so that they can have the conditions set for them to do their job, to be successful at their mission and at the same time, have the risk reduced to them brought to the lowest level that we can possibly do it. I think that is what we owe the men and women in uniform when we ask them to do risky things on behalf of our country and giving them the capability as is announced here today is an enormous and powerful step. This is truly a lifeline for our missions. We can't do our job without it and so we are delighted to have the policy announced here and to start the process towards acquiring what we need. Thank you. Merci beaucoup.
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Professor?
L'Hon. Scott Brison: Thank you, General and Lieutenant. I would like to speak specifically to the procurement process. We support absolutely the Canadian Armed Forces in obtaining the equipment they need in a timely fashion. Our department will help ensure that the acquisition of the replacement aircraft is carried out in a fair, open and transparent process. We will in fact engage a fairness monitor to oversee the process and there will be two stages to this procurement. First there will be a solicitation of interests and qualifications that will be posted publicly for at least 30 days. This will provide an opportunity for industry and interested parties to understand fully the statement of operational requirement. The second stage will be for suppliers who meet the mandatory criteria to submit a formal proposal in response to the request for proposal. We will work with the department of Industry as well to help ensure that significant regional and industrial benefits will flow to Canadian industry. The process we will follow will reduce the time taken to meet the military needs and at the same time, be a fair, open and transparent one. The fairness monitor will be selected on the basis of expertise in defence procurement and the mandate of the fairness monitor will be to advise the government on the overall fairness of the process.
Moderator: Questions?
Question: Rick, simplifying it to such an extent that you end up, as Gordon O'Connor said, basically making a one-horse race. Specifically can you address the issue that the A-400 is ruled out because you are requiring immediate certification about the aircraft as being ready (inaudible) and secondly, that the Boeings are ruled out because the A-17, C-17, their C-17s are so large, you don't need sixteen of them, you would only need three or four or five of them?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Well, the whole - this whole approach of saying who is ruled out and ruled is in entirely ignoring the whole purpose of a performance-based procurement. The way this started was send the chief here. You heard what he said. We need an aircraft that can do certain things and he defined them and they will be defined in the performance requirements and we need it by a certain time, not there, but within a certain time limit. Those are the two - those are requirements the military have laid down. So those are the requirements we are putting out. They don't rule anybody out or anybody in. They may be - if the market rules itself, but this doesn't determine who is going to come forward or bid, but if the market - if somebody doesn't have an aircraft that fits, if they are going to come forward with a piper cub, I'm sorry, it doesn't fit the performance requirements. So the performance requirements are laid down, not with a view of excluding anybody or directing it anywhere else, but just to - they are performance requirements that are dictated by our needs, not by what the market supplies.
Question: Is it unusual to require certification at the signature of the contract rather than on delivery? That is a first, isn't it?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Well, it is not unusual. If you heard what the general said in terms of the requirements of this particular fleet. In another situation, where one had more leisure and more time, one might well take a different approach, but what - as the general pointed out, in this particular case, 36 months from when we signed the contract is stretching it and we are going to work trying to get an aircraft earlier than the 36 months. That is the furthest out date. Our object is to go and see if we can get a few aircraft even earlier than that to replace particular the nature of the E model. I never can -- the E models which is the older models. You will appreciate the older ones, some of them are now about 36, 38 years old. So they will go first, you know, we will get them staged.
Question: (Inaudible) do you think are in a position to do that?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Well, I frankly don't - I frankly don't know. I think there are several, but we won't know until people come forward and have a look at our specifications.
Question: (Inaudible)
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Well, I mean they can come forward. I don't know what kind of a proposal they would make but clearly they would have to fit the requirements of what we need.
Question: And they have A-400s that are available for 2008. Do you think that they can meet those criteria or is it structured so that Lockheed is the only one that can...
L'Hon. Bill Graham: No, as I said, it is not structured so that Lockheed - only one bidder can make it. It is structured so that we can get what we need for the forces.
Question: When the...
L'Hon. Bill Graham: And when they need it and what it is they need. I mean if Boeing could come forward, but if they are coming forward with something that isn't required or needed for this particular purpose, it doesn't make sense. They may come forward for another purpose and another requirement, but this is for a tactical lift that meets the needs of the military. I mean I think...
Gén Rick Hillier: Minister, let me just add a little bit to that. We structured the requirements and we structured based on a very simple proposition and that is what do the men and women need to do the job that they have to do. We ask them to do a lot. We ask them to do a lot in high-risk situations and now we determined what they need to have in the way of support and that has been the sole basis for structuring the performance requirements. What do they need? What tool do we have to have to deliver that? What kind of aircraft will fit that? And that is what we want. We are asking a lot from that aircraft but then again, we are going to need a lot from it as we do right now. We normally don't operate in normally the most industrialized and developed countries in the world. So we don't have the luxury if you will of having aircraft than can do half a job. So we put it down clearly: performance requirements, here is the output we need based on what men and women around the world, sometimes in Canada, need to do the job in the circumstances that we ask them to do it.
Question: (Inaudible) to do the job of three or four Hercules, why not take one Boeing C-17?
Gén Rick Hillier: Quantity has a quality all of its own. We have a direction in the defence policy statement to run two major missions abroad plus many of course smaller ones. We have to be prepared to respond to at least one national disaster or tragedy and in order to be able to do that in various places around the world, let's say one mission in Africa, one mission in the Far East or the Asian perimeter such as East Timor and a mission here in Canada, plus normal training and bringing forth the air crews and the airplanes, you have got to have a number that allow you to do that business and that number of course is what leads us to go about 16 aircraft right now. So it is quantity as a quality all of its own in this case.
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Look at the fact that for example we are getting 16 which are - I mean we are getting 16 which replace what, 36 or something basically over time. I mean it is the way we are looking at it. I mean we presently have a fleet of...
Gén Rick Hillier: We have 32 right now.
L'Hon. Bill Graham: 32.
Gén Rick Hillier: Well, we have put one to bed because it is over 50,000 hours. We have got a whole lot more of those aircraft, all the E models that are in the 40,000 hours plus. When you stop and think about that, that is three to three and a half years of flying time in their life. I was in one in fact just recently. So those aircraft are going down and we figure with the ones that we have, the C-130H models that we have, that are the more modern ones, nine of those with 16 new aircraft that give us the capabilities that we need for the fleet therefore of about 25. We will have sufficient and that quantity is a quality all of its own to allow us to the two major international operations, support one major domestic operation, support routine force generation of the aircraft and air crews and do our normal business.
Question: What is the role of the monitor? Is it an independent monitor? What are they going to do?
L'Hon. Scott Brison: Well, the fairness monitor will help advise the government on the fairness of the specification and beyond that, the fairness of the process, and we as - through our procurement process and in other areas increasingly use fairness monitors to advise us in Public Works and I think that it will play an important role. The individual or firm will be one with expertise in defence procurement.
Question: Est-ce que vous êtes tellement pressé maintenant? Je suis là. Est-ce que vous êtes tellement pressé maintenant parce que vous avez attendu pendant trop longtemps avant de les remplacer ces avions-là?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Je ne dirais pas qu'on a attendu trop longtemps, mais on a attendu jusqu'au point où il faut agir rapidement, il y a pas de question de cela. C'est pour ça par exemple que j'ai décidé qu'il vaut bien la peine de commencer le processus maintenant, bien qu'on est sur le commencement possible d'une élection, mais je trouve que s'il y a une élection, ça pourrait retarder pendant encore quatre ou cinq mois et à mon avis, il est préférable de commencer ce processus au moins qu'on peut dire -- qu'on peut couper le temps et avoir le contrat peut-être signé l'année prochaine, tôt dans l'année prochaine, pas tard dans l'année prochaine. Question: Pour arriver au processus, si dans une semaine on est en campagne électorale, est-ce que tout s'arrête?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Non, le processus peut continuer et c'est pour ça exactement qu'on l'a lancé. Ça donne une possibilité que le processus continue. Évidemment aucune décision, aucun achat ne se ferait pas avant au moins quatre, cinq mois. Donc, s'il y a - si n'importe quoi arrive dans les élections, il y aura la chance pour le gouvernement de regarder ce qui se passe dans le processus et...
Question: Alors vous dites que l'élection retarderait? Je comprends pas.
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Bien parce que si je retardais ce processus et on commence le processus par exemple en janvier, commencement février, on a perdu ce temps-là. On peut avoir encore un retardement. Il vaut mieux, il y a pas question, il vaut mieux le commencer aujourd'hui
Question: This isn't the only - this isn't only urgent need we have heard about, there is the medium lift helicopters, there is the search and rescue aircraft. If you can do this with the tactical planes, why can't you do it with all the others and get it all done as I'm sure the general would like to see?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Well, clearly the general would prefer and if I could with the forces, I would. The other issues raise more complicated issues and I think it is - this is something which I believe is the public and everyone understands, everyone who is watching knows that the Herc fleet has got to be replaced and we need to move on replacing the Herc fleet. There are more...
Question: (Inaudible) before an election to spend the $12 billion on the whole thing rather than just one shot?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: No, I wouldn't put it that way. I would put - this one, I really wanted, we really felt we could - we should move on, but I believe there is general satisfaction, both in the public and those who watched this, to know that the Herc fleet needs to be moved on and that while I would have been, in a perfect world, been much happier bringing forward the whole package. I did do that, it was felt that on the eve an election, given the complexity and size of that package, we would be wiser to wait until after the election and I think that it was the right decision on behalf of the government, but I very much appreciate the government's support that at least in this dimension, we can move on. Jeff? Sorry, Jeff at the back?
Question: (Inaudible) a streamlined performance-based procurement process. I kind of begs the Question: why haven't we been doing this for 20 or 30 years?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Ah, this is a very good question. Well, I haven't been the minister for 20 or 30 years, but thank God, thank God, I would be looking a lot - look a lot wearier than I do now. No, I think that is a good question, but I mean my talking to other ministers of defence, Jeff, around the world, everyone has been coming to new ways of doing this. The Americans clearly have been moving more towards procurement, the British, the Dutch, other ministers that I have had an opportunity of discussing this, but nobody was doing this 15 years ago. The performance-based, the attraction of the performance-based is we get out of the business like, and the example I gave was the last helicopter purchase of putting out 17,000 pages of specifications and we put out a document on one page that says here is what the troops need, the reasons the general said, that can get our -- move our equipment and our troops within certain theaters, with certain capacities, come forward and give us your plan as to how you can fulfill that need. It is a much - it allows industry much more flexibility in coming forward with imaginative proposals. That is the purpose of performance-based and that is what we are doing here.
Question: General, are you concerned, are you concerned about the Americans, what the American experience has been with the (inaudible)? It has been...
Gén Rick Hillier: No, first of all, I don't know what aircraft we are going to end up with at the end of this process here, so whatever aircraft we do end up with has got to be able to do the job. It is simply - it is that simple.
Question: Just on the rush to do this, in 1993 (inaudible) and the argument at the time was the project was rushed (inaudible).
L'Hon. Bill Graham: This project was not - on the contrary, gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, this election was rushed at us. This project wasn't rushed for the election. I have been working on this project for about six months now. We thought we would be having an election in a logical - as logic would have dictated and the Canadian public would prefer if we had an election next March or April and if we were having one next March or April, I'm confident I would have been able to get the whole package through as was suggested. So some other people out there, the world works that way, we don't control the House of Commons and other people decided they wanted an early election. I'm not pushing this purchase towards an election. They are pushing the election to push us off of doing things like this and governing and getting the business of the nation done. So I think this is good, we are moving on on this.
Question: (Inaudible) an election, this does amount to little more than a campaign promise at this point. What is to say - what can you tell us to guarantee that this won't become a 12 to 13-year process like the helicopters that were cancelled in 1993?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Because - exactly because of the performance requirements. You are going to see when they are brought out. They are going to say...
Question: (Inaudible) wins the election, this is going to go through in a quick process?
L'Hon. Bill Graham: Well, if another party wins the election, they will have to make their own decisions. That is their responsibility for governing but I can promise you if this government is returned, we are absolutely determined to proceed with this election - with this election process and with the rest of the package as early as is practically possible.
Question: General, how do you feel - how do you feel about having to make do without the rest of the package right now? We are in a - given the political climate, you are moving ahead with the Hercs but obviously, they are important but how do you feel about not being able to move ahead with the helicopters especially the fixed wings?
Gén Rick Hillier: The key is right now. I mean let there be no doubt, we have a package of airlift requirements that we have to have met. I think Canadian moms and dads will want their sons and daughters to receive that support that is necessary for their health and well-being and continued success and bringing them back to Canada and all that we ask them to do. The airlift, the tactical piece as I said, that is the lifeline to our missions. Unless we have that piece fixed and fixed first and fixed upfront, we are not going to be in those places to do the missions, etc. We are going to have to have an heavy lift aviation - heavy lift helicopter without question because without those capabilities, you can't operate effectively and it is going to take us a while to get it. We want to get at it. We want to get at it quickly. I'm delighted to take this first step here because that is the one we have got to fix first. Without that fixed, the others mean nothing to us at this point in time.
Question: Is there anything you can't do right now, that you had to turn down because of a lack of tactical airlift?
Gén Rick Hillier: Tom, no, there has not. There have not been, but we have been on the cups several times as the operational aircraft declined because of obviously - you know, they are broken. When I was with our Team Canada a while ago, we experienced that and you get into one aircraft, it won't start. You get into a second aircraft, it won't go and you get into a third aircraft, and finally execute the mission. So that is the kind of stage that we find ourselves with the C-130 E model particularly because of their age, because of their use and now because of the difficulty of keeping them flying and operational. So we have not had to either not accept a mission and we have not failed at a mission or set any conditions for failure. We have been on the cusp several times of being able to say, you know, we are at the edge, we are not sure if we can, but we manage to come through. That will get increasingly difficult as we go forward here. The longer we go out, obviously the more certainty will add to the fact that we won't be able to succeed. Question: Are you confident the military will get what it needs or are you afraid the politics will overtake this process and....
Gén Rick Hillier: We have laid out, Stephen, as the minister said, a one-page of requirements, of output required based on what the sons and daughters of Canadians need when they go off and do certain things here. That is the requirement. I'm confident that we will get that because of the process that we have approached to do it. To come back with something that doesn't meet that requirement simply won't fly. Question: (Inaudible) before you get this and you said at that point, the existing fleet is going to be almost inoperable. I mean what is a three-year delay going to do for the forces?
Gén Rick Hillier: It is going to be a challenge. Obviously what it means right upfront is that we put an increasing number of dollars in maintaining the C-130Es and making sure of course the C-130Hs are relatively newer models of the C-130s can continue to do their job. So we are going to have to make sure we put the money into the continuing maintenance of it, make sure that we have got the people on the ground and take them from the rest of the forces if necessary to make sure all of our maintenance technician slots are filled and do all those things and continue to monitor what we are doing around the world, what the demands are from that and perhaps have, to try in the shorter term, innovative solutions to make sure we are going to be successful. We are going to have to watch it and walk through it very carefully. It is a declining fleet and it is declining rapidly. So we are walking through it. Many of those steps are already in place. We have got a whole bunch of men and women in blue who have been looking after that for us for some months and years now. So we know what we have to do to keep the operational level as high as possible and we are going to do that obviously.
Question: You said something about 30 days in the requirements. Is it the draft process? What is going on?
L'Hon. Scott Brison: Yes, we will be posting the performance specifications for 30 days which will enable industry and interested parties to be fully aware of and understand the process and the specification.
Question: (Inaudible)
L'Hon. Scott Brison: Once the - that will probably be in another ten days or so. Thank you very much.
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