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A consortium trying to win a $3 billion contract to provide Canada with new search and rescue aircraft says it will build a new training facility in British Columbia if it is selected as the winning bidder.

The proposed three-storey, 73,000 square foot building would be located in Comox, British Columbia, Steve Lucas, a retired lieutenant general and former head of the Royal Canadian Air Force, told a news conference on Wednesday. Lucas is with Team Spartan, a consortium of companies which bid the C-27J aircraft for the Canadian contract.

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Team Spartan consists of Leonardo-Finmeccanica, General Dynamics Mission Systems-Canada, DRS Technologies Canada and other firms. The company faces competition from Airbus and its team, which are offering Canada its C-295 plane as well as Embraer of Brazil, which has proposed its KC-390.

A new aircraft fleet will replace the Canadian military’s existing fleet of Buffalo and Hercules aircraft used for search and rescue. The Buffalos, first purchased in 1967, are key to search and rescue on the west coast and in parts of the Rockies.