The government recognizes more personnel will be required to protect the Northwest Passage, MacKay told reporters.

"We've committed during the election to enhance our presence here - to enhance the necessary equipment, to keep that presence real," said MacKay.

"With the Northwest Passage on many people's minds, this is going to include more personnel. Clearly how and when this occurs is part of the decision-making we are going through right now."

More aboriginal people are also going to be needed to help Canada protect its sovereignty in the Arctic, he said.

MacKay's visit to the Yukon capital coincided with news from the Defence Department that it's going to spend $2.9 billion on three new naval ships.

"We are demonstrating in actions, not just words, that we take enhanced military procurement seriously," said MacKay. "We cannot expect our men and women of the Armed Forces to be doing their important work in substandard equipment or in many cases equipment that is rusting out, that is ancient."

The lasers used in the tests were low-power surrogates for ABL's high-energy laser and two illuminator lasers. The program plans to install actual illuminators in the jet for ground and flight tests later this year. The track illuminator laser is designed to track all classes of hostile ballistic missiles.

The beacon illuminator laser will measure atmospheric conditions, allowing the beam control/fire control system to compensate for atmospheric turbulence in the high-energy laser's path to a target. During this year's flight tests, the illuminators will be fired in flight at a missile-shaped image painted on a test aircraft.

The high-energy laser, which achieved lethal power and run-times in a ground laboratory in December 2005, is currently being refurbished and will be installed in the ABL aircraft in 2007 to prepare for the program's first missile shoot-down test, slated for 2008.

"The surrogate-laser tests provide further proof that the ABL design is sound," said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "They also bring ABL closer to important flight testing later this year and to the 2008 lethal shoot-down milestone. This is an exciting time for the program, and our team has worked hard to make it that way."

Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL, which will provide a speed-of-light capability to destroy all classes of ballistic missiles in their boost phase of flight. Boeing provides the modified aircraft and the battle management system and is the overall systems integrator.

ABL partners include Northrop Grumman, which supplies the high-energy laser and the beacon illuminator laser, and Lockheed Martin, which provides the nose-mounted turret in addition to the beam control/fire control system.

Referring to the delays suffered by the project since the first Rafale prototype appeared in 1986, she added: "I regret only one thing. It's that it did not enter the French army at the moment it was conceived."

The French airforce had waited 10 years longer than expected for its first Rafales, a record delay in the industry, mainly because of "budgetary problems", according to Dassault.

The French government has so far ordered 120 Rafales, of which 82 are earmarked for the airforce and 38 for the navy. Under the latest defence spending program, which runs from 2003-2008, the government is expected to order up to 294.

Dassault Aviation has fallen from the heights of its success in the 1980s when it sold its Mirage jets to about 10 countries, particularly in the Middle East.

The market for fighter planes has changed since the beginning of the Rafale project, with the Europe-made Eurofighter aircraft, the US-made F-15 Eagle and the new F-35, as well as Russian models, now competing for national defence budgets.

Dassault has been unable to sell the Rafale to foreign governments and has suffered a series of setbacks since it began marketing the plane abroad in 1994, notably with the Dutch, South Korean and Singaporean governments.

In a high-profile sales pitch, French President Jacques attempted to convince his Saudi Arabian allies to place an order for the plane during an official visit to the country in March.

The Arab nation has still not made a decision, with the trade press suggesting that the defence ministry is ready to buy 48 planes from a foreign manufacturer.

"This plane is a good plane in the opinion of all its pilots, if not the best in its class," said the chief executive of Dassault Aviation, Charles Edelstenne, in April. "We will export it one day."