DOUBTS OVER OPERATIONAL BENEFITS OF COLOMBIA AID

The USA's controversial $1.3 billion aid package to Colombia has been
defended in Washington largely on the grounds that the new helicopters
and other aid will be used only to fight the nation's drug war and not
in counter-insurgency operations against the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia (FARC) and other left-wing rebel groups.

However, a growing number of Colombian and US officials maintain that
the equipment package itself, the largest to date, falls significantly
short of operational needs and will do little to improve Colombia's
ability to successfully wage war against the drug cartels, increasingly
protected by Colombia's well-armed guerrillas.

Following a one-day visit last week by US President Bill Clinton,
Colombia is now set to receive the three-year funding package to
acquire 42 refurbished Bell Helicopter-Textron UH-1 Huey II and 18 new
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, as well as Schweizer SA
2-37A surveillance aircraft, Ayres S2R T-65 pesticide spraying aircraft
and related training.

Bell officials say all 42 Huey II kits, intended to modernise the
engines, avionics and other capabilities of the ageing, Vietnam-era UH-
1s, could be completed by December 2001. While the contracts for the
Huey II work have not yet been awarded, the company believes each
helicopter kit, consisting of 6,000 parts, could be completed in five
to six months.

According to US government officials, the 18 new and more capable UH-60
Sikorsky Black Hawks should be delivered 18 to 24 months after the
final contract is signed. According to one official, there is a
possibility that some of the aircraft could come directly from the
current UH-60 production line, speeding up their delivery.

However, it is highly debatable whether the assistance package,
approved despite lingering US concerns about the human rights record of
the Colombian National Police and military forces, will meet Colombia's
operational requirements. Officials maintain that the less expensive,
and less capable, Huey II helicopter, which makes up most of the
equipment package, will not meet the nation's pressing equipment needs.
In fact, the US Department of Defense and US State Department
originally asked Congress for 30 Huey IIs and 30 of the more powerful
Black Hawks.

US Army aviation experts drafted a report following a May 2000 visit to
the region in which they recommended providing more Black Hawks to
Colombian counter-narcotics forces because of its superior range, troop
carrying capability and ability to operate at higher altitudes.

Moreover, the Colombian government recently sent a letter to the US
government expressing its desire for more superior UH-60s. One US
official described the decision to provide 42 Huey IIs and only 18
Black Hawks as a "slap in the face to the Colombian government and the
Pentagon".

The UH-60's T700 engines can lift almost twice the number of passengers
at altitudes over 10,000ft, travel 300n miles (556km) and fly at speeds
up to 170kts (314km/h). The Huey II will carry fewer troops shorter
distances at lower altitudes. This means the UH-1s will require forward
arming and refuelling locations nearer the areas of drug cultivation in
the south, and thus nearer the FARC, which controls nearly 40% of the
country.

Ivan Rios, a senior FARC commander, has publicly said the FARC will now
arm more fighters and attempt to buy anti-aircraft missiles to shoot
down the new helicopters.

According to US State Department policy, the 60 helicopters will be
shipped to Colombia unarmed. The Colombian government generally arms
its helicopters with machine guns, electric-powered mini-guns and
rocket pods.

The debate continues in the USA with regard to whether the helicopters
will be used to fight the FARC and other left- and right-wing groups,
in addition to fighting narcotics traffickers. During his visit with
Colombian President Andres Pastrana last week, Clinton said that "this
is not Vietnam" and pledged that "there won't be American involvement
in a shooting war, because they don't want it and we don't want it".