BIG GUNS ARE BACK IN AERIAL DRUG WAR

Colombian Police Report Successes

Colombian police have resumed using .50-caliber machine guns in the war
against drugs after problems encountered with the weapons were fixed last
month.

A confidential staff report to the House Government Reform and International
Relations committees said the problems "have been addressed" by officials at
the gun's manufacturer, General Dynamics Corp., and "the weapons are all
operational at present."

Last month, Colombian police suspended use of four of the GAU/19A machine
guns, purchased by the administration for $2.1 million, saying they
threatened to "eat up our budget ... faster than it could possibly chew up
narcoterrorists." They said the triple-barrel weapons were "temperamental"
to use, adding that they were so heavy they threatened to "tip the aircraft
dangerously forward."

But House investigators said problems with the weapons -which have proven
effective in penetrating the dense Colombian jungle - related to
installation errors by private contractors hired by the Colombian National
Police, noting that the weapons had not been in stalled by General Dynamics.

A team from the defense contractor flew to Colombia last week to make the
necessary corrections.

General Dynamics installed the weapons on 34 Colombian air force Black Hawk
helicopters, which have been used for years "without a problem."

Use of the guns aboard the Black Hawks was proposed by Republican Reps.
Benjamin A. Gilman of New York, chairman of the House Committee on
International Relations, and Dan Burton of Indiana, chairman of the House
Government Reform Committee.

According to the staff report, Colombian National Police have eradicated
nearly 25,000 acres of opium poppy this year - more than all of last year
and five times greater than in 1998. The report said the eradication
occurred without any casualties to Colombian police, compared with the loss
of hundreds of police officers "when they did not have Black Hawks or the
GAU/19As."

"The combination of the Black Hawks and GAU/l9As have permitted the [police]
to remain out of range of the narcoterrorist snipers' the report said.
"Clearly, Congress provided the right helicopter and the right defensive
weapons to protect those helicopters and brave CNP officers."

The report noted that the State Department's Narcotics Affairs Section
continued to "push less-effective, smaller-caliber weapons," but argued that
they would "bring the helicopters into the range of sniper fire, needlessly
risking the lives of the CNP officers and the $16 million helicopters."