ARMS AND POWER: The Politics of U.S. Arms Sales To Latin America
Klare, Michael T.
On June 5, 1973, President Nixon waived a statutory restriction on the export of advancedtechnology arms to underdeveloped countries in order to permit sales of the Northrop F-5E...
...Edward Lieuwen, "The Latin American Military," in U.S...
...manufactured goods has declined in recent years, aerospace exports are rising and in 1972 were the only industrial product to show a positive trade balance...
...The firm has also discussed a joint missile development program with Brazilian military officials...
...military equipment.a Foreign Military Sales Credits: Credits supplied by or guaranteed by U.S...
...For a full analysis of IAC and its operations, see: Diana Roose, "Top Dogs and Top Brass: An Inside Look at a Government Advisory Committee," Insurgent Sociologist (Spring 1975).- 9POLITICS OF THE ARMS TRADE: MYTHS & REALITIES The breadth and intensity of the campaign to abolish restraints on U.S...
...8 Nevertheless, while it is undoubtedly true that U.S...
...arms sales policies and Washington's relations with Latin America: Economically, the war's unpopularity precluded high domestic taxation and forced the Executive to resort to deficit spending and heavy borrowing tofinance military operations - thus touching off the current wave of inflation that threatens to undermine the world capitalist system...
...Aramco) of Saudi Arabia, which just purchased $750 million worth of F-5s...
...Arms Profiteers in Aircraft Sales, 1972-75 Supplier Aircraft Total Sold into new long-range co-production and licensing agreements with U.S...
...14-16, 20-1...
...The Subcommittee on Military Exports was perhaps the most important...
...guidelines on most strategic issues), while it has refused to respond to a similar purchase offer from Peru (whose military rulers have instituted a brand of radical nationalism considered inimical to U.S...
...FMS sale /1972-73 ATR 1 Tank landing ship, displ: 2590 t. Lease /1973 CR,10-17-74 1 Destroyer, displ: 2375 t. Ex-USN...
...aerospace firms displayed their latest warplanes at the international air show in Sao Paulo...
...In the most significant of these, Northrop President Thomas Jones, and now-retired Vice President James Allen, pleaded guilty to making a $150,000 illegal contribution to Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign...
...reconditioned WWII- /1972-73 CR,10-17-74 1 Submarine, displ: 1800 t. vintage ex-USN ships...
...the cutoff in military aid to Turkey...
...exports will also be facilitated by growing Latin American dissatisfaction with European armaments: according to U.S...
...For discussion, see: Richard J. Barnet, "Nixon's Plan to Save the World," New York Review of Books (November 16, 1972), pp...
...Following the announcement of the Mirage deals, U.S...
...1 6 Most of the weapons transferred to Latin America during this period (surplus warships, patrol planes, interceptor aircraft, etc...
...On broad issues, the IAC worked largely through subcommittees to develop policies favorable to business...
...U.S...
...personnel with increased access to the military leaders of these countries...
...the economic (financial) industrial benefits of valid military exports are now recognized...
...in 1956, resigned from the presidency of Northrop, though he will retain the title of chairman and chief executive...
...Simultaneously, this government-iridustry alliance stepped up its marketing activities itself in order to generate new sales opportunities...
...This doctrine, formulated in conjunction with the Alliance for Progress and the U.S.-led counterinsurgency campaign against rural guerrilla movements, held that the principal tasks of Latin American armed forces were internal security and civic action (i.e., military-sponsored economic and social development projects...
...6 9 (Emphasis added) The principle objectives of this policy are first, to strengthen the indigenous counterinsurgency capabilities of pro-U.S...
...32...
...In line with its efforts to "make policies toward Latin America mutually respectful," the Commission recommended that "legislative restrictions on arms transfers that discriminate against Latin America ought to be repealed...
...Before proceeding to a discussion of these questions, however, it is necessary to review the history of U.S...
...16 per year for non-profit institutions ($30 for two years...
...LTV Corp...
...In promoting this policy, Northrop explains that the F-5E is so popular abroad because "more sophisticated aircraft often require a level of technical skill that does not exist in other nations...
...48...
...U.S...
...With the decline in MAP grants and the new restraints on economic assistance, the Administration has campaigned vigorously to abolish restrictions on arms sales - which have emerged as one of Washington's most popular and effective tools for acquiring new leverage...
...strategies and to enhance U.S...
...hegemony and to counteract Latin America's growing struggle to reduce its dependence on the U.S...
...Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, The International Transfer of Conventional Arms, A Report to Congress (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1974...
...According to the Los Angeles Times, the President of Northrop noted that "this has obvious political appeal, overcoming some of the obstacles of selling a purely American aircraft...
...M-113 APC /1972-3 ATR HAITI 4 helicopters possibly Bell 206 Jet Ranger /1971-2 ATR HONDURAS 5 Cessna T-41A trainers /1973 ATR JAMAICA 3 Patrol boats, displ: 104 t. Under construction /1974+ ATR ECUADOR 12 24 1974/1976 /1974 LAT,12-1-74 ATR - 23 - Year ordered/ Recipient Quantity Item Comment Delivered Source MEXICO 20 Beech F33C Bonanza trainers For Air Force /1975+ AWST,1-13-75 5 Bell 206A Jet Ranger helicopter /1973 ATR 5 Bell 205 Iroquois helicopter /1973 ATR 19 Minesweepers, displ: 890 t. FMS sales...
...dominance in the arms trade...
...In a discussion of the revised aid program, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara told Congress in 1967 that "our primary objective in Latin America is to aid, where necessary, in the continued development of indigenous military and paramilitary forces capable of providing, in conjunction with the police and other security forces, the needed domestic security...
...Litton Industries...
...See also: AW&ST (November 18, 1974), p. 11...
...Thus while U.S...
...Indeed, Latin America's attempts to reduce its dependence on foreign arms suppliers can lead to a new form of technological dependence on those very suppliers...
...nonetheless, Washington's war policies clearly pushed the system to the brink...
...4. Ibid...
...The emphasis is on vehicles and helicopters for internal mobility [and] communications equipment for better coordination of in-country security efforts...
...balance-ofpayments deficits...
...Daley, Vice President for Public Relations, at Northrop headquarters, Los Angeles, August 26, 1974...
...Scope and diversity of the market is expanding rapidly, and its limits are not yet in sight...
...Military Strategy After Vietnam," Monthly Review (March 1974), pp...
...Attitudes have changed in Washington...
...Bearing on this are such factors as 'security assistance' to other countries, trade imbalance, the balance of payments problem, and unemployment...
...From this analysis, we can safely conclude that the United States will continue to increase its military exports to Latin America (and other Third World areas) until a new alignment of politico-economic objectives precipitates a change of policy...
...Brownlow, "Report from Brazil," p. 7. 33...
...Congress, House, Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee, Foreign Assistance Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1971, Hearings, 91st Cong., 2d Sess., 1970, p. 307...
...19102 > PACIFIC I'NORTHWCiT R C RCH CCNTCR UNIVERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE OREGON 17403 Cost: .754 (Plus .254 Postage) ten or more: .504 and 10% for postage - 22 - Major U.S...
...Fortress Amerika," p. 79...
...military advisers who sought to discourage Latin American purchases of advanced military hardware...
...troops in Indochina...
...European suppliers were providing much of the same mix of principle combatant vessels, fighter aircraft, tanks, and artillery in the 1950s...
...Obviously, it is possible to give only a few examples of this trend here: the growing strength and unity of OPEC: Europe's refusal to support the U.S...
...4. U.S...
...officials are clearly aware of the fact that the major hemispheric powers have always sought to match the weapons acquisitions of their neighbors...
...To sidestep the law, corporate executives continue to meet with Pentagon officials on an "informal" basis, thus perpetuating the momentum established by the IAC...
...Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, "Arms Sales in Latin America," Press Release, Washington, D.C., July, 1973, pp...
...package...
...Ibid...
...In an early presentation of the new strategy, Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird told Congress in 1970: The basic policy of decreasing direct U.S...
...Army strength, for instance, was cut nearly in half...
...4 7 Predictably, the arms lobby has emphasized the threat of growing Soviet influence: Brownlow reported in 1973 that Moscow "is actively pushing to capture a share of the Latin American market for military aircraft in an effort to further erode the waning U.S...
...See also: "Latin American Helicopter Market Grows," AW&ST (May 28, 1973), pp...
...regimes on the periphery of the empire, and second, to build up the military strength of local "mini-powers" in order to create a reserve army for U.S.-sponsored "peacekeeping" missions...
...3 s Yet none of the recent studies on the arms trade have attempted to identify the underlying forces behind the current export drive...
...Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, arms transfers among the developed countries held relatively steady at a rate of about $1.6 billion annually during 1961-71, while arms imports by underdeveloped countries rose from $1.2 billion in 1961 to $4.5 billion in 1971...
...The Secretary of Defense himself attended IAC meetings regularly, along with the military's highest generals and admirals...
...During most of the Cold War period, the primary objective of U.S...
...And, while some countries continued to acquire their new high-performance arms from Western Europe, "the United States came to be seen as the predominant supplier of arms and training to Latin America, with World War II and Korean War stocks of materiel a source of inexpensive but reliable arms and equipment...
...military involvement cannot be successful unless we provide our friends and allies, whether through grant aid or credit sales, with the material assistance necessary to assure the - 16 - most effective possible contribution by the manpower they are willing and able to commit to their own and the common defense...
...predominance...
...manufacturers hope to preserve their access to this lucrative market by entering into licensing agreements and co-production schemes (thus Northrop will sub-contract part of its F-5E production work to the government-controlled aviation firm, EMBRAER...
...The more sophisticated the weapon, moreover, the more dependent the buyer becomes on technical services furnished by the supplier...
...On Brazil, see discussion in: Ruy Mauro Marini, "Brazilian Subimperialism," Monthly Review (February 1972), pp...
...Meetings of the Council were chaired by the Deputy Secretary of Defense, who is considered industry's top representative in the Pentagon...
...Recent Latin American purchases of British guided-missile destroyers and aircraft can be seen thus as a continuation of past policy and not merely a response to U.S...
...More interested in fostering economic development than in being the exclusive arms supplier, U.S...
...7 3 Although Washington will continue to encounter considerable competition from European weapons suppliers, the U.S...
...ARMS SALES AND MILITARY ASSISTANCE GRANTS TO LATIN AMERICA, 1950-74 (By Fiscal Year...
...3. Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1974...
...Indeed, Pentagon cost analyst A. Ernest Fitzgerald has called IAC "the board of directors of the military-industrial complex...
...balance of payments deficits would decline, and U.S...
...Subscriptions: $10 per year for individuals ($18 for two years...
...policy implicitly incorporates such sanctions: when some Congresspeople complained that U.S...
...To the dismay of U.S...
...This new spirit has affected U.S.-Latin American relations as well: Congress voted in 1974 to withhold military assistance to Chile, to abolish the Public Safety training program, and to phase out all military assistance grants (except those for training programs...
...Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Fiscal Year 1975 Foreign Assistance Request, Hearings, 93rd Cong., 2d Sess., 1974, p. 212...
...As recently as 1959 Pentagon spokesmen affirmed that "the most positive threat to hemispheric security is submarine action in the Caribbean Sea and along the coast of South America...
...for complex and sophisticated systems these countries depend on the metropoles for a high percentage of components and special raw materials as well as for technical know-how...
...For discussion, see: George Thayer, The War Business (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1969), pp...
...In the mid-1960s, U.S...
...Hereinafter cited as: HCFA, Foreign Assistance FY75...
...arms purchased by Haiti have been provided by a Miami-based firm named Aerotrade, which has also supplied U.S...
...aerospace companies were fully occupied with Vietnam orders...
...EPILOGUE: U.S...
...For discussion, see: Seymour Melman, Pentagon Capitalism (New York: McGraw-Hil, 1970...
...by stressing the need for restraint, U.S...
...Included in the sales were ARAVA military transport aircraft, Westwind business jets...
...In the prevailing Pentagon view, internal security was the paramount function of Latin American armies, and preparation for external defense was seen as unnecessary and wasteful...
...influence and position in that strategic area...
...If, as we have seen, the Johnson Administration's original 1965 decision to limit high-technology military sales to Latin America was based on established strategic principle, what new factors compelled Nixon to reverse this policy a few years later...
...6. Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1973...
...MALAYSIA NEW ZEALAND PHILIPPINES SINGAPORE THAILAND VIETNAM, SO...
...1-14...
...military sales to Latm America raises several important questions about U.S.-Latin American relations and about the impact of such sales upon political, economic and military developments within the hemisphere...
...Arms Transfers To Latin America, 1972-75 (Note: parantheses indicate approximation) Year ordered/ Recipient Quantity Item Comment Delivered Source ARGENTINA 16 McD-D A-4B Skyhawk attack plane Ex-USN...
...Whether Northrop will be "cleaned up" by these resignations and the restructuring of the directors is questionable because the proposed "Independent" directors include a former Northrop Vice-President, William Ballhaus, president of Beckman Instruments, Inc...
...military aircraft...
...Among the major sources of information and statistics on the U.S...
...officials insist that current U.S...
...7-21...
...Since 1956, Northrop has turned out about 2200 military aircraft for the U.S...
...In addition, Section 620 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1971 (Symington-Conte Amendment) requires that the Executive reduce aid to any country which diverts excessive funds to purchase of sophisticated military hardware...
...Foreign military sales are increasingly being seen as an important source of export revenues, and the Pentagon has been ordered to increase its marketing activities abroad...
...As we have seen, the shift from opposition to conjunction occurred after 1968, when the Nixon Administration began to readjust U.S...
...Ling Temco Vought...
...overhauled Boeing transports, navigation control systems, and airfield radar and communications systems...
...16-17.-5largest Latin American powers have come to resemble a scaled-down version of U.S.-supplied armies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia...
...Air Force and the armed forces of 22 other countries...
...and, Brownlow, "Brazil Again Turns to U.S.," pp...
...See Klare, War Without End, pp...
...And, although the U.S...
...1973/1975 NYT,10-8-74 3 Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports FMS sale 1971/1972 ATR 1 Fleet ocean tug, displ: 1235 t. Ex-USN /1972 ATR 1 Fleet tanker, displ: 1850 t.(empty) Ex-USN...
...This tradition of measuring military preparedness on the basis of defense against external threats was later to cause much frustration for the U.S...
...Page has also carried out a major contract in South Vietnam, where the firm constructed a communications network for the military...
...These figures do not include commercial cash sales of ammunition, spare parts, etc...
...and, Brownlow, "Brazil Presses Aircraft Industry," p. 52...
...at the same time, Brazil and Argentina undertook building their own arms industries, thus further eroding U.S...
...To appreciate the significance of Nixon's June 5 decision, one must examine prior government policies...
...Govt...
...The imbalance between U.S...
...is one of the largest helicopter and aircraft support companies in the world and works closely with Iran Aircraft Industries, which is 49% owned by Northrop...
...163-4...
...43 (July-Sept., 1972), p. 246...
...Brownlow, "Soviets Push Fighters," p. 163...
...industry sources, French follow-up support for its Mirage ISRAELI ARMS SALES TO LATIN AMERICA: COMPETITION OR CONVENIENCE...
...and European sales to Latin America during the late 1960s naturally provoked much bitterness in the U.S...
...Such contact normally begins with the sales negotiations themselves (which are normally conducted by a country's top military officers) and follow with training programs, service and maintenance contracts, technical assistance, etc...
...Nevertheless, most restrictions still apply and the arms lobby has not abated its drive to abolish all restraints...
...indeed, the concomitant U.S...
...A developing nation that does not, in fact, develop simply cannot remain secure for the simple reason that its own citizenry cannot shed its human nature...
...as noted by Professor Edwin Lieuwen of the University of New Mexico, "the basis of military aid to Latin America abruptly shifted from hemispheric defense to internal security, from the protection of coastlines and from anti-submarine warfare to defense against Castro-Communist guerrilla warfare...
...21-2...
...When President Kennedy took office in 1961, the objectives of both MAP and FMS were completely reversed...
...14-24...
...lead in military technology 5 These developments have greatly reduced U.S...
...Because of the complexity of modern aircraft, he explained, "it only takes one little piece to go wrong" and the plane must be grounded until it is replaced...
...The Council's role as a whole was to oversee the entire program and encourage profitable sales for industry...
...Section 4 of the Foreign Military Sales Act of 1968, as amended, prohibits sales of "sophisticated weapons systems" to underdeveloped countries (except to the "forward defense countries" on the border of China and the USSR), while Section 33 limits all forms of military assistance to Latin America (including FMS credits but excluding training) to $100 million per year, with a presidential waiver of 50 percent of that ceiling...
...Between 1967 and 1972, the "Big Six" South American powers - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela (who together accounted for 97 percent of Latin American arms spending during this period) - spent $1,213 million on purchases of major military equipment from Europe...
...arms and equipment in return for access to certain bases and strategic raw materials...
...by Fiscal Year) 1970 McDonnell Douglas...
...In an effort to cut their dependence on foreign suppliers and to reduce spending on aerospace imports, several of the larger Latin American countries - particularly Argentina and Brazil - have increased their investment in domestic arms production facilities...
...52-3...
...7 Northrop's only comment on this controversy was that it is entirely up to Washington to decide what kinds of weapons are sent where...
...As of September 1974, Northrop had orders for more than 600 F-5Es and the potential market through 1980 is estimated to be worth more than $1.5 billion...
...policy in Vietnam and reached new heights after Watergate...
...1 ) In addition to this management shake-up, Northrop faces a precedent-setting court order calling for restructuring of the board of directors to guarantee that 60%/o of its members are "independent...
...World Military Expenditures and Arms Trade, 1963-1973 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1975...
...policymakers saw the Peruvian request "as a prime example of wasteful military expenditures for unnecessarily sophisticated equipment at a time when generous U.S...
...It was composed of businessmen representing nearly every major weapon and aircraft exporter in the U.S., including General Dynamics, Northrop, Lockheed, General Electric, Hughes Aircraft, United Aircraft, Boeing, Litton, and others...
...See also: Northrop Corp., Annual Report, 1973...
...Lockheed Aircraft...
...Since professionalized forces began emerging in South America at the end of the 19th century," the State-6 Department belatedly acknowledged in 1973, "they have measured arms requirements in terms of preparedness for external conflict...
...1950-68 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1950-73 1974 1950-74 FMSO a 332.0 28.2 20.0 25.3 55.4 110.3 112.8 684.1 191.1 875.1 Orders FMSC b 193.9 35.1 22.4 - 50.8 61.8 59.1 423.1 118.2 541.2 Credits I_ t FMS c 260.4 47.3 31.4 35.2 25.6 44.3 54.6 498.7 n/a n/a Deliveries Commercial a n/a 12.9 20.2 29.8 40.1 21.8 19.7 n/a n/a n/a Deliveries Total n/a 60.1 51.6 65.0 65.6 66.1 74.3 n/a n/a n/a Deliveries MAP 950.8 41.1 22.4 23.1 23.8 28.8 22.8 1,112.8 21.6 1,134.4 Grantsb Note: Totals may not add due to rounding...
...Ecuador's seizure of U.S...
...4 9 Indeed, Brownlow has repeatedly stated that Latin American air force officers are disenchanted with French arms because of the low level of backup and logistical supports 0 Moreover, despite frequent reports of imminent Soviet arms deals, Moscow's only major exports to date (other than those to Cuba) have been the six Mi-8 helicopters and some T-55 tanks sold to Peru in 1973.s' These sales and attractive credit offers on the MiG-21 have not, moreover, discouraged Peru from trying to purchase the F-5E and other U.S...
...For texts of these restrictions, see: Einaudi, Arms Transfers to Latin America, pp...
...7, 11...
...7 2 As the world's major producer and- 17 - supplier of advanced military equipment, then, the United States is able to alter regional military balances in favorable directions by selectively approving or refusing major weapons transfers...
...resistance to these purchases - at one time Washington threatened to turn off economic aid to Peru - led some countries to adopt a policy of diversifying their arms purchases among several countries, including the Soviet Union...
...Rosenbaum, Arms and Security in Latin America, p. 9. 78...
...high-technology armaments, and the recent liberalization of U.S...
...Boeing Arms The Corporate Empire With Articles On: *Boeing And The B-1 *Agribusiness *"'Secoo' Jackson *Labor *Wall St...
...power abroad while conserving resources at home...
...71-3...
...Thus Admiral William H. Moorer, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress in 1974 that "The inflow of European arms, including French Mirage aircraft and French and Soviet armor, has impacted upon our traditional relationship with Latin American leaders...
...Also, ambitious countries attempting to build tanks would have to import the tools needed to mill the gears and running tracks Latin America Buyer(s) Unit Costa (millions) Total Sales (millions) Lockheed C-130 16 Argentina,Brazil,Chile,Peru $5.11 $81.96 Northrop F58 6 Brazil 2.03 12.18 F5E 92 Brazil,Chile,Peru,Venezuela 2.77 254.84 267.02 Bell-Textron 206B 23 Brazil,Mexico 0.17 3.91 205A 5 Mexico 0.54 2.70 UH-1H 37 Brazil,Peru,Uruguay 0.35 12.95 19.56 Cessna A-37 60 Chile,Ecuador,Guatemala,Peru 0.83 49.80 Rockwell-Intl...
...F-86F Sabre fighter MAP grant /1973 ATR 8 Cessna 185 Skywagon " " " ATR 2 Cessna 210 Turbo Centurion " " " ATR 1 Beech King Air transport plane " " " ATR BRAZIL 36 Northrop F-5E Int'l Fighter 1 FMS sale...
...Air Force Headquarters, in 1970 as follows: The need for expensive arms by Latin American countries does not appear great...
...Europe was fully occupied with domestic economic recovery, while the United States had large stocks of surplus military equipment which it was willing to sell at relatively low rates.' 2 Wartime cooperation had also left a legacy of partnership which was further strengthened by the Rio Treaty of 1947 (InterAmerican Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, which provides for a collective military action in response to an attack on any of the signatories), and later by the bilateral mutual defense pacts signed with most countries during the early 1950s...
...approval 6 Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport Under negotiation 1974/n.a...
...There was nothing sentimental about this effort: capitalism and socialism were viewed as being in irreconcilable conflict, and every aspect of government policy was designed to insure the success of one and the failure of the other...
...Arms Sales to Latin America," p. 23...
...jets sold to Saudi Arabia will ultimately be used by other Arab nations in attacks on Israel, Secretary of State William P. Rogers Wiaz/LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEURILNS iL1- 14 - NORTHROP...
...McDonnell Douglas...
...See, for example: Cecil Brownlow, "Soviets Push Fighters in Latin America," AW&ST (May 28, 1973) pp...
...From Bombers to Watergate "Our client is Washington," said a Vice-President of Northrop Corp., one of the major U.S...
...Donald E. Fink, "Brazil Prepares to Form F-5 Squadrons," AW&ST (August 18, 1974), p. 68...
...fishing boats...
...9-11, for a survey of such programs...
...power on a futile and costly intervention...
...Although many issues are still being contested, Congress has already imposed severe restraints on presidential autonomy in several key areas: the ban on deployment of U.S...
...Latin American armies, in this strategy, were expected to facilitate development by lending their managerial and technological skills to civilian development projects, by participating in civic action programs, and by refraining from excessive purchases of military hardware (other than those required for counterinsurgency operations...
...In other words, you can get by with $1 million F-5A instead of a multi-million dollar Phantom...
...The challenging aspects of our new policy can, therefore, best be achieved when each partner does its share and contributes what it best can to the common effort...
...In 1965, when the original ban on high-performance aircraft was imposed, U.S...
...government and industry leaders formed a loose alliance to lobby for the repeal of all restrictions on high-technology military exports to Latin America...
...military assistance to South Vietnam and South Korea...
...1973 Textron...
...McDonnell Douglas...
...Congress, House, Committee on Appropriations, Mutual Security Appropriations for 1960, Hearings, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 1959, p. 736...
...At the same time, the growth of antiwar sentiment at home and dissent within the armed forces forced Nixon to abolish conscription and to order substantial cuts in military manpower levels...
...Philadelphia, Pa...
...According to the U.S...
...General Dynamics...
...Navy w. =with Sources: AAS - Aviation Advisory Services Newsletter ATR = Arms Trade Register (SIPRI) AWST = Aviation Week & Space Technology CR - Congressional Record DMS = Defense Marketting Service Int...
...Department of Defense...
...447-52...
...For discussion, see: Michael T. Klare, "U.S...
...Weapons Exporters Under the Foreign Military Sales Program, 1970-1974 Source: U.S...
...lease /1972 ATR 2 Tank landing ships, displ: 1780 t. Ex-USN...
...8-17...
...currently has a five million dollar contract for air traffic control systems in Saudi Arabia...
...counterinsurgency strategy and thus diminished the credibility of future U.S...
...By Fiscal Year...
...governments abroad while providing U.S...
...The constraints on the employment of U.S...
...The members of IAC were usually the highest-level executives of their companies...
...global policy in light of the U.S...
...and Lockheed (C-130 Hercules transport planes...
...reflected this assessment of the security picture...
...3 0 Recently, the Administration has stressed more pragmatic concerns: by compelling Latin America to purchase European arms, we are losing an important export market at a time of mounting balance-ofpayments deficits, while at the same time we surrender the political leverage that normally accrues to major military sales...
...Neither IAC nor its subcommittees have met since this date, and in February 1974, the Pentagon officially "disestablished" the Council...
...bSource: U.S...
...Einaudi, Arms Transfers to Latin America, p. 20...
...foreign policy objectives after Vietnam...
...And, since such services are required throughout the lifetime of the product (15-20 years for most aircraft), an arms agreement normally "tends to tie the recipient politically to the donor for this period of time if any continuity [in military effectiveness] is to be maintained...
...firms will face increased competition from a new source: indigenous Latin American arms producers...
...Ford Motor Co...
...25-6...
...penetration of the Latin American market...
...As the war progressed, moreover, U.S...
...leverage is negligible or that Washington lacks resources for future interventions...
...Most major arms transfers are accompanied by agreements for the provision of technical assistance, training, maintenance and logistical support by the original producer, thus forging a permanent link between buyer and seller...
...5. Interview with Vice-President Daley...
...leverage in the world arena and thereby encouraged other nations - large and small, socialist and capitalist - to adopt a more independent stance in international affairs...
...It also has economic advantages to the purchasing countries, many of which could not afford to produce a modern jet fighter on their own...
...interests...
...By 1974 military sales had climbed to $8 billion, eight times more than in 1970...
...Einaudi, Arms Transfers to Latin America, pp...
...Though the F-5 was but marginally supersonic, U.S...
...1-11...
...8 The data on rising U.S...
...21-2...
...The IAC Subcommittee's leader, Tom Jones, Chairman of Northrop Corporation - whose newly-developed F-5E jet fighter plane is one of the biggest sellers on the international market - praised "the success which the Subcommittee has had in bringing the efforts of Government and Industry together in the export field...
...If this pattern holds, the F-5E sale to Brazil will precipitate a sharp rise in arms spending in surrounding countries, and generate new orders for U.S...
...ex-USN /1974 CR,10-17-74 PARAGUAY 12 Bell H-13 Sioux scout helicopter MAP grant /1972 ATR PERU 20 Northrop F-5E Int'l Fighter FMS sale: $70-m...
...8 Northrop's international presence goes beyond arms sales, as many of its subsidiaries are also involved in overseas operations...
...Brazil's military buildup is certain to generate considerable anxiety in neighboring countries, particularly Argentina, Peru and Venezuela, and thus could stimulate additional U.S...
...117-18...
...DMS,1975 gotiation 12 N.A.Rockwell T-2 Buckeye trainer /1973 ATR 1 Cessna Citation /1973 ATR 16 Rockwell OV-10 Bronco COIN plane FMS sale 1971/1973 ATR 100 Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder A/A miss...
...arms restrictions...
...Department of State.a (Not included in FMS totals...
...Ibid., p. 3. 26...
...Also, why is the question of political influence Credit: Lockheed such an important tneme in tne export lobby's propaganda...
...arms sales policies to Latin America is the product of these individual policy shifts and the overall realignment of U.S...
...Department of Defense table, 1974...
...Arms Sales in Latin America," p. 13...
...In the conventional analysis, U.S...
...Argentina and Brazil both produce light jet attack planes and turboprop transports, and each has initiated production of Europeandesigned missiles and warships under licensing agreements...
...Westinghouse Electric...
...General J. N. Chaudhuri, "The International Arms Trade III: The Recipients Problems," Political Quarterly, vol...
...General Electric (which produces the J85 engines for the F-5E...
...oil and steel companies...
...Facts Behind U.S...
...In particular, it is important to consider the effect of such sales on domestic military spending in Latin America, on intra-regional rivalries, and on the continent-wide struggle to reduce dependence on the U.S...
...After 1945, the United States continued to dominate the arms market in Latin America...
...Thus several Central American and Caribbean countrieswhich previously depended on the MAP program for new equipment-have recently made purchases of U.S...
...Indeed, we can conclude that arms sales policies are shaped by the interaction of these factors: when they are in opposition, as they were in the mid-1960s, military sales will be restricted...
...SIPRI, Arms Trade Registers...
...Einaudi, Arms Transfers to Latin America, pp...
...4 6- 11 - 3. The Franco-Soviet "invasion": Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the international weapons trade is the "trade-off" between arms sales and political influence...
...Europe could not spare any arms for marginal allies, and only the United States had sufficient industrial capacity to produce weapons for export...
...the U.S...
...104-9...
...In order to approve the F-5E sales, Nixon invoked an obscure provision of the Foreign Military Sales Act of 1968 which permitted presidential leeway in arms transfers deemed "important to the security of the United States...
...General Electric...
...instructors replaced European -4officers at the region's top service schools, and U.S...
...counterinsurgency programs...
...Raymond J. Barrett, "Arms Dilemma for the Developing World," Military Review (April 1970), p. 33...
...arms transfers to Saudi Arabia and Iran, and surely figures in Washington's decision to accelerate the flow of arms to Brazil...
...United Aircraft...
...Recognizing that the Senators were primarily motivated by the desire to prevent a costly arms race, Meyer emphasized the futility of such restrictions in light of extensive Latin American purchases of high-performance European arms: "The long-term consequence of our paternalistic, even patronizing restrictions will be the acquisition of more expensive items, higher maintenance costs, and greater diversion of financial resources from civilian purposes...
...Although Brazil recently imposed tough new restrictions on aerospace imports, U.S...
...According to Armed Forces Journal, Israel "is hoping to expand its exports to Latin America, and is currently negotiating several new long range programs...
...In an industry that is plagued with financial losses and production cut-backs, Northrop is one firm that has continued to grow...
...During the NACLA'S LATIN AMERICA & EMPIRE REPORT Vol...
...Washington Post, January 31, 1974...
...The Kissinger-Ford-Rockefeller Administration's drive to modernize U.S...
...In September 1973, for instance, several U.S...
...Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Foreign Assistance Act of 1967, Hearings, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., 1967, pp...
...Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), The Arms Trade with the Third World (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1971...
...Ibid., pp...
...6 " 2. Aerospace Productivity: When Pentagon spending on Vietnam war operations began to decline in the early 1970s, many U.S...
...And some government officials, concluding that Latin America's "turn towards Europe" would undermine U.S...
...1 4 Originally, much of the equipment supplied to Latin America in the postwar period was delivered gratis under the auspices of the Military Assistance Program (MAP...
...2 The Israelis are proud of their new achievement: as IAI boasted in one recent ad, "Israel has a greater percentage of its people working in aerospace activities than any other country in the world...
...strategy to overcome the threat of socialist revolution...
...MAP grant /1974 AAS,1-75 GUATEMALA 8 Cessna A-37B COIN plane /1973 ATR (15) FMC Corp...
...Chrysler...
...The principal threat to Latin American nations is internal...
...troops in any sustained, manpower-intensive operations abroad...
...s' Among the U.S...
...n/a = not available) "aSource: U.S...
...ex-USN /1974 CR,10-17-74 URUGUAY 2 Beech Queen Air light plane /1973-74 ATR 2 Bell UH-lH Iroquois helicopter /1973-74 ATR 1 Fairchild-Hiller FH227 transport /1974 ATR 1 Escort vessel, displ: 1450 t. Ex-USN...
...defense contractors, including General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed, Northrop, and Rockwell International...
...Total U.S...
...See also: Einaudi, Arms Transfers to Latin America, pp...
...Air Force USN - U.S...
...This linkage between military sales and U.S...
...such items are not normally included in arms sales figures even though they account for over 50 percent ($250 million) of U.S...
...supplies during the war in Vietnam...
...Hughes Aircraft...
...Martin Marietta...
...According to Northrop spokesmen, "The F-5E will provide an air superiority capability to meet security needs of many free world nations in the decade of the 70's and into the 1980's...
...The United States, for its part, stuck to a developmentalist position and rejected the Peruvian purchase offer...
...3) as a result of Washington's misguided export policies, U.S...
...FMS sale /1973 CR,10-17-74 Abbreviations: A/A = Air-to-air APC = Armored personnel carrier ASW = Anti-submarine warfare COIN = Counterinsurgency displ: = Displacement FMS = Foreign Military Sales program m. = million MAP = Military Assistance Program McD-D - McDonnell-Douglas Corp...
...25 per year for profitmaking and government organizations ($48 for two years...
...The Los Angeles-based firm produces the F-5 series of supersonic fighter planes, which was first selected for export under MAP in the early 1960's...
...At the same time, such exports help beef up the armed forces of pro-U.S...
...ties with the region's military leaders, joined industry lobbyists in pressing for a reversal of policy...
...interventions elsewhere...
...interests...
...IAI exhibited an ARAVA with Nicaraguan Air Force markings at the 1973 international air show in Sao Paulo...
...International Herald Tribune, January 15, 1972...
...military power while it eroded domestic support for a continued interventionist posture...
...AFRICA 3,144 1 1 2 1 - 3,149 - 3,149 47,800 TUNISIA 2,885 - - 2,169 737 5,791 7,514 2,885 194 ZAIRE 1,534 54 16,928 286 715 1,339 20,856 24,959 17,053 3,372 AFRICA, 55,207 8,011 19,871 13,467 7,765 16,185 120,507 119,919 89,086 95,951 Totalf -27Europe, FMS FMS Dell- Comercial __r.,., Foreign Military Sales Orders Credits veries Sales Canada 1950-1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1950-1974 1950-1974 1950-1973 1960-1973 AUSTRIA 53,468 1,326 3,791 2,405 2,654 3,056 66,698 15,713 57,060 12,701 BELGIUM 118,940 4,404 2,999 4,728 6,214 9,896 147,181 7,793 131,860 139,381 CANADA 821,298 53,358 28,836 37,521 91,254 93,920 1,126,186 - 912,758 382,045 DENMARK 75,221 6,933 15,996 14,512 11,714 20,863 145,240 - 97,934 28,552 FINLAND 3 - 1 63 - 12 79 - 4 2,029 FRANCE 321,288 3,429 5,994 7,552 8,693 21,092 368,048 80,392 330,310 246,200 GERMANY 3,672,219 242,404 179,409 942,076 218,770 218,612 5,473,492 - 4,077,943 502,205 ICELAND 14 -* 436 47 - 498 - 57 - IRELAND 1 * 11 248 197 17 475 - 241 584 ITALY 432,337 37,249 24,926 81,064 91,421 45,051 712,048 292 509,544 298,454 LUXEMBOURG 1,941 101 93 24 627 21 2,806 - 2,157 - NETHERLANDS 121,719 7,608 7,837 29,380 35,460 17,600 219,606 2,200 133,135 151,120 NORWAY 166,209 9,746 25,827 21,959 14,285 50,311 288,339 - 198,546 45,301 PORTUGAL 7,534 1,067 1,156 3,234 564 2,513 16,068 - 10,285 8,419 SPAIN 202,173 25,940 110,687 24,819 57,020 147,796 568,435 2,300 197,585 67,465 SWEDEN 37,755 265 883 1,548 1,879 6,988 49,319 - 40,001 94,582 SWITZERLAND 93,934 4,435 515 11,808 3,259 8,394 122,355 - 101,071 75,438 UNITED KINGDOM 1,579,382 63,205 46,825 125,778 110,997 45,079 1,971,267 - 1,473,347 157,457 YUGOSLAVIA 11,483 41 12 106 717 4 12,363 1,393 11,731 3,462 EUROPE, CANADA 7,716,919 461,511 455,798 1,309,261 655,772 691,225 11,290,503 110,083 8,285,569 2,215,395 Total INT'L ORGANIATIONS, Total 216,545 37,045 17,365 39,150 94,191 16,839 421,139 23,109 264,849 16,574 WORLDWIDE, Total 11,324,495 921,576 1,644,239 3,271,719 3,865,703 8,262,579 29,290,311 5,082,169 13,400,734 3,673,192 *Less than $500...
...The New York Times, February 2, 1975...
...The charge of "paternalism" is further refuted by another consideration: Washington's desire to delay Latin American weapons purchases while U.S...
...arms firms were busy with Vietnam war production...
...technicians attached to foreign military forces under contracts arranged by the U.S...
...They are protected against conventional military threats by the effective Inter-American peace-keeping machinery, by the Rio Treaty security guarantees, and by wide oceans...
...U.S...
...t. - ton USAF = U.S...
...Business Week, February 24, 1975, p. 60...
...Indeed, the outstanding achievement of the first Nixon-Kissinger Administration was the liquidation of obsolete Cold War policies and their replacement with more "cost-effective" strategies...
...military policy (then exemplified by an unpopular war in Asia), Congress adopted several new restrictions on arms exports to Latin America...
...some 6 Destroyers, displ: 2120 t. had previously been on loan 6 Destroyers, displ: 2350 t. to Brazil 1 Tank landing ship, displ: 3560 t. Lease /1973 CR,10-17-74 CHILE 18 Northrop F-5E Int'l Fighter FMS sale: $60-m...
...It is the danger of Fidel Castro-sponsored subversion...
...firms under license from the Office of Munitions Control, U.S...
...which is run by many staunch Nixon supporters), and Thomas C. Barger of the Arabian-American Oil Co...
...because human nature cannot be frustrated indefinitely...
...arms sales to Latin America is, in reality, a deliberate U.S...
...Westinghouse Electric...
...military hardware...
...While it is true that the Pentagon was generally successful in mobilizing indigenous military support for U.S.-sponsored counterguerrilla operations in the countryside (such as the 1967 campaign against Che Guevara in Bolivia 2 2 ), Washington never succeeded in erasing the traditional view that defense against external attack is the primary mission of Latin American armies...
...He said it was essential to attract both capital and good management to Defense industry...
...He does not want the Defense industry to become a low profit industry...
...In addition, Page has operations in Sudan, Turkey and Nigeria., Northrop has had its share of political scandals and charges of impropriety...
...Brownlow, "Soviets Push Fighters," p. 163...
...Lockheed...
...On June 5, 1973, President Nixon waived a statutory restriction on the export of advancedtechnology arms to underdeveloped countries in order to permit sales of the Northrop F-5E supersonic fighter to five Latin America nations-Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and, surprisingly, Chile (still at that time ruled by the Popular Unity Government of Salvador Allende...
...The F-5E "International Fighter" - the most advanced in this series - has recently been sold to several Latin American countries in a major policy shift of the U.S...
...4 4 Other items also had to be temporarily removed from the export list, according to the State Department, because of "contracting U.S...
...General Chaudhuri was formerly Chief of Staff of the Indian Army...
...export policies is deficient in many respects - yet it raises many key issues of U.S.-Latin American power relationships which require investigation in depth...
...19-20...
...industry statements picture a flood of French technicians into Latin America as a result of the Mirage deals, Aviation Week indicated that there are only two French Air Force officers in Brazil assigned to the Mirage squadron there...
...The IAC itself was not solely responsible, of course, for this huge increase in military sales, but it was active in developing and supporting the program...
...In summary, then, we can say that the shift in U.S...
...5 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ARMS SALES The revolt in Congress has reduced presidential maneuverability and compelled the Administration to hasten its search for strategies which enhance U.S...
...military regimes in Portugal, Greece, Thailand, and Ethiopia...
...6. Cecil Brownlow, "Sao Paulo Air Show Underlies Growing Latin American Market," AW&ST (Sept...
...Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) views Latin America as its largest potential market for the ARAVA transport, which carries 24 paratroopers or 5,000 pounds of cargo...
...Military Aircraft Exports Pushed," AW&ST (May 28, 1973), p. 139...
...American Rockwell...
...national security, State and Defense Department officials have testified that important political, military and economic interests are at stake and that the decision to sell jet fighters to these countries represented "a major policy decision...
...leverage abroad has been hampered by another development: the growing revolt in Congress against the Executive's monopolization of foreign policy decision-making...
...See, for example: "Strong Export Drive Dismays Europeans," AW&ST (June 4, 1973), pp...
...military-industrial complex: aerospace productivity would rise while U.S...
...intervention in Indochina has yet to be written, it has long been clear that the United States would emerge from the war with a substantial reduction in its global power and prestige...
...6 2 Third World sales have also figured prominently in the continued prosperity of Northrop - the producer of the F-5E International Fighter and supplier of other military products geared to technologically unsophisticated users (see box...
...United Aircraft...
...During the late 60's, the Subcommittee on Military Exports was inactive because U.S...
...OV-10 16 Venezuela 1.07 17.12 spare parts, aSource: U.S...
...All this is not to say that U.S...
...power and to overcome future challenges with a minimum of economic and political dislocation at home...
...Department of Defense, "Foreign Military Sales Orders," Press Release, Washington, D.C., 1974...
...Department of Defense for FMS (government-togovernment) sales of U.S...
...restrictions on high-technology exports to Latin America and the resulting "buy European" backlash "opened up" the region to French, British and Soviet personnel while undermining existing ties between U.S...
...1 Fleet ocean tug, displ: 1235 t. Ex-USN...
...sales to these nations amounted to only $216 millions (This figure excludes sales of ammunition, spare parts, quartermaster supplies and other non-combatant items, which together brought the U.S...
...See box on the role of the Industry Advisory Council of the Department of Defense...
...and European exports to Latin America is markedly reduced when one includes sales of ammunition, spare parts, support vehicles, maintenance and training services and other non-combatant supplies...
...arms sales to the entire continent...
...sales figure up to $417 million...
...Lockheed...
...government sales during the past three years (Fiscal 1972-74) stood at $414 million, four times the figure for the preceding three-year period and nearly twice the total for the entire 15-year period ending in 1965.7 (See Table I.) Industry sources indicate moreover than the Latin American military market will continue to grow: Aviation Week & Space Technology reported in October 1973 that "the area has become a major marketplace for aerospace hardware and technology...
...Einaudi, Arms Transfers to Latin America, p. 2. 25...
...Without internal development of at least a minimal degree, order and stability are impossible...
...It is important to note that all major U.S...
...Brownlow, "Financing Terms Cloud Peruvian F-5 Buy," pp...
...Pentagon statistics are often fudged for political reasons and should be used with caution...
...miss...
...CSource: U.S...
...270-310...
...According to Brownlow, Latin America's turn towards Europe occurred when "a 'father-knows-best' Congress refused to sell advanced military aircraft" in the belief that Latin America "had no need for advanced weapons and should spend its money for more worthwhile projects such as raising the standard of living of its lower classes...
...Policy Regarding Sale of Military Aircraft to Latin America," Press Release, Washington, D.C., October 30, 1967...
...The chairman of the IAC Subcommittee described its function as "both a planning and operating committee dealing with many day-to-day problems...
...6 The U.S...
...FMS sale /1973 CR,10-17-74 2 Destroyers, displ: 2350 t. Ex-USN...
...The Council was composed of approximately 25 business executives who met three times a year at the Pentagon from 1962 to 1972...
...21 - 36...
...Military Apparatus (1972), available from NACLA for $2.00 (includes postage...
...6 4 U.S...
...7-10...
...Brazil: Fortress Amerika," Latin America (March 7, 1975), p. 79...
...30-8...
...Interavia LAT - Los Angeles Times MB - The Military Balance (IISS) NYT - The New York Times -24The Arms Merchants: The Top Ten U.S...
...FMS sale: $229,500 /1973 CR,10-17-74 1 Destroyer-escort, displ: 1,450 t. Ex-USN...
...warships constitute about half of Latin America's total naval inventory, none were purchased new from the United States (except for four submarines sold to Peru in the mid-1950s) and all new-construction vessels were acquired from traditional European supplies...
...47...
...McDonnell Douglas...
...2. For discussion, see: Michael T. Klare, War Without End: American Planning for the Next Vietnams (New York: Knopf, 1972), pp...
...As explained by the then Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara, Security is development, and without development there can be no security...
...In February 1973, the Federal Advisory Committee Act became law, thus requiring advance public notice of all meetings, open admittance, and publicly available records of all government advisory committees - including the IAC and its Subcommittee on Military Exports...
...Arms Sales to Latin America," p. 13...
...FMS sale /1973 CR,10-17-74 2 Destroyer, displ: 2350 t. Ex-USN...
...4 5 Thus the Johnson Administration's 1967 recommendation to Latin American governments that "aircraft on hand be maintained as long as possible and that newer models not be introduced into the area until the 1969-70 time frame" - when the F-5A would be available for sale to the region - can be interpreted as an attempt to preclude third-country purchases until the U.S...
...These orders have boosted U.S...
...Obviously, this approach did not permit lavish spending on advanced military equipment...
...U.S...
...Military Sales, 1950-74 Includes: Foreign Military Sales Orders: Government-to-government orders for U.S...
...arms sales policies are not intended to provoke a new Latin American arms race, it is obvious from the above analysis that such a development would have multiple benefits for the U.S...
...Page is constructing a nationwide telecommunications system in Iran, in the largest communication project ever carried out under one contract...
...Cecil Brownlow, "Brazil Looks Again to U.S...
...AWST,7-8-74 4 Northrop F-5F trainer J needs U.S...
...Brownlow, "Latin American Market to Grow," p. 16...
...FMS sale: $122,400 /1972 ATR VENEZUELA (14) Northrop F-5E Int'l Fighter FMS sale: $30-m...
...and, Paul Sweezy, "Growing Wealth, Declining Power," Monthly Review (March 1974), pp...
...al., Arms Transfers to Latin America: Toward a Policy of Mutual Respect (Santa Monica: The RAND Corporation, 1973...
...While the decline in U.S...
...In addition, they are being used to replace an earlier version of the F-5, the F-5A "Freedom Fighter," in South Vietnam...
...Excessive presidential power surfaced as a major issue in the late 1960s with the first outbreak of public opposition to U.S...
...4 3 While it is undoubtedly true that many Congresspeople are motivated by such beliefs, this analysis distorts reality in two important respects: first, the restrictive policy did not originate in the Congress but in the Executive Branch, and second, this policy was not primarily motivated by a desire to eradicate poverty but rather to facilitate U.S...
...295-6...
...2 s U.S...
...3 8 Similarly, Great Britain supplied most first-generation jet fighters and all bombers acquired by Latin America after World War II...
...For data on the arms inventories of Latin American countries, see: Einaudi, Arms Transfers to Latin America, pp...
...In 1973-74, Israeli sales of aerospace products to Latin America totaled $50 million - or about 25% of Israel's aerospace exports...
...Thus Washington's opposition to F-5A sales to Peru did not arise from an altruistic, paternalistic impulse but from clear strategic perogatives...
...95-123...
...According to Latin America, "The idea is that this force will be able to operate anywhere in Latin America within 12 hours...
...V (1974), p. 177...
...for Navy /n.a...
...In Latin America too there are signs of growing resistance to U.S...
...7. U.S...
...It is for this reason, he added, "that when states wish to buy [military] hardware, we prefer that it be American-supplied rather than supplied by some state that may be hostile to or indifferent to the same kind of objectives of American foreign policy...
...Ulrich Albrecht, "Militarization, Arms Transfer and Arms Production in the Peripheral Countries," unpublished Ms., 1974, p. 3. This paper is one of a small number of studies produced by the Research Unit of the Federation of German Scientists, Hamburg...
...1971 General Electric...
...now topped the list of armaments furnished under MAP or through the FMS credit system...
...personnel gradually replaced most of the European advisers attached to Latin America's military forces...
...1. Interview with Mr...
...Thus several countries bought the French AMX-13 because the preferred U.S...
...Brownlow, "Soviets Push Fighters," p. 164...
...When rebuffed by Washington, the Peruvians turned to Paris where an export-conscious government was only all too eager to provide credits for the sale of Dassault-Breguet Mirage V fighters...
...188-91...
...aircraft...
...Brownlow, "Brazil Presses Aircraft Industry," pp...
...Department of State, Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, "Facts Behind U.S...
...8. Interview with Vice-President Daley...
...Brownlow, "Brazil Again Looks to U.S.," p. 21...
...Thus industry officials and their government allies have been able to fabricate a bogus analysis of Latin America's "turn towards Europe" which tends to dominate most public discussion of the issue...
...Overseas Loans & Grants, July 1, 1945-June 30, 1973 (Washington, D.C.: 1974), p. 33...
...and Brownlow, "Brazil Presses to Build Aircraft Industry," AW&ST (January 6, 1975), pp...
...salesmen have increasingly concentrated their efforts in the Third World...
...On Haiti, see: Miami Herald, September 3, 1971...
...and, Washington Post, January 9, 1972...
...aerospace firms faced significant cutbacks in Defense contracting and were forced to order massive lay-offs of their skilled and semi-skilled employees (who have acquired a considerable amount of political clout in several key states...
...Peru and Ecuador have recently made substantial purchases of A-37's, and several other nations have begun negotiations for purchase of the F-5E or other advanced U.S...
...EAST ASIA, Totalc 1950-1969 829,198 1,908 105,981 648 234,963 5,167 4,050 94,395 5,776 1,038 5,081 7 1,296,754 1970 61,553 7 32,649 * 21,533 1,837 5,442 843 2,476 21,150 147,490 n gieroF Mi l itary s 1971 59,890 84 64,736 18 11,286 480 272 7,594 1,107 1,988 48 147,503 1972 117,802 273 78,430 47,057 9,081 40,124 4,159 468 5,908 16,978 2 320,282 1973 27,353 246 202,166 148 52,055 1,297 1,432 3,105 708 7,601 1,920 1,155 299,186 Latin America ARGENTINA 82,898 10,947 14,148 16,556 16,328 8,928 149,805 113,573 111,793 49,298 BOLIVIA 926 - 44 5 42 155 1,172 4,000 976 1,180 BRAZIL 85,255 2,538 21,269 34,089 17,276 58,739 219,166 168,084 124,750 35,371 CHILE 27,607 7,699 2,968 6,185 15,012 68,194 127,665 62,532 41,863 11,087 COLOMBIA 11,122 158 2,168 5,466 1,293 1,085 21,293 22,250 15,652 16,754 COSTA RICA 902 - - 34 - - 935 - 935 305 DOMINICAN REP...
...s Counterinsurgency hardware (helicopters, armored personnel carriers, close-support aircraft, etc...
...52-3...
...Although U.S...
...Rockefeller's recommendation that the government reverse course and permit sales of "aircraft, ships and other major military equipment without aid cut penalties to the more developed nations of the hemisphere"" received widespread attention and helped legitimize the export campaign...
...Dollars in millions) FMS = U.S...
...Whereas two of the five factors noted above (Balance of Payments and Political Leverage) remained more or less constant, the other three were altered or reversed after 1968: Aerospace Production, which in 1965 was fully committed to Vietnam, after 1969 had to be geared to the general export market...
...Ibid., p. 1. 15...
...lease /1972 ATR Cessna A-37B COIN plane Cessna 150 Aerobat light plane FMS sale: $20-m...
...7 6 Ultimately, both countries would like to acquire sufficient technical expertise to design and produce their own high-performance armaments, but most analysts believe that Latin America will remain dependent on the advanced countries for supply of the most advanced technologies and hardware.* As noted by a research team of the Federation of German Scientists, Arms production in the periphery [i.e., the Third World] can only be advanced up to a certain point...
...This is due partly to the company's decision, initiated largely by President Thomas V. Jones, to concentrate on the use of "advanced technology to produce low-cost answers to defense needs," 3 and thereby to acquire numerous smaller contracts from Third World clients...
...This redistribution of military roles forms the core of the Nixon Doctrine and has resulted in a rapid acceleration of arms deliveries to Washington's regional deputies...
...Costs are for aircraft only...
...These efforts recently got a boost from the prestigious Commission on United States-Latin American Relations (Linowitz Committee) of the Center for Inter-American Relations: in its report on "The America's in a Changing World," the Commission noted that "Legislative restrictions on arms transfers to Latin America have been ineffective and have resulted in deep resentment among Latin American military and political leaders, who have viewed such stipulations as paternalistic...
...occupation of the Canal Zone...
...security interests in the region...
...FMC Corp...
...3. U.S...
...Congress, Senate, Compmittee on Foreign Relations, Survey of the Alliance for Progress, Compilation of Studies and Hearings (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1969), p. 115...
...leverage without sacrificing paramount objectives...
...according to the minutes: He said it was very important to the security of the country that a strong Defense industry be maintained and that this could best be done by allowing good profits for good performance...
...Ibid., pp...
...Raytheon...
...Before attempting to construct a systematic analysis of our own, therefore, we will summarize the pseudo-analysis and identify its fallacies and distortions...
...Brownlow, "Latin American Market to Grow," pp...
...aerospace products in 1974, including $220 million on military aircraft (principally for the F-5E international fighter), and is expected to continue such spending at a high rate for the remainder of the 1970s.a 8 In line with a shift in Brazilian military doctrine from its earlier emphasis on internal security to preparation for conventional inter-state war, "a long-term program is underway to strengthen all branches of the armed forces...
...General Electric...
...displ: 2120 t. FMS sale...
...The Fiscal Year 1968 aid program, he added, "will provide no tanks, artillery, fighter aircraft or combat ships...
...Ibid., p. 2. 14...
...Following the Democratic Party election victories of 1974, Congress moved energetically to retrieve some of the authority it had handed over to the Executive Branch during the Cold War...
...policymakers evidently hoped that Latin America could be persuaded to defer major acquisitions for a few years - at which time U.S...
...These deliveries were supplemented with credit-financed sales under the Foreign Military Sales program (FMS) which, like the MAP program, was designed to strengthen "Free World" defenses against the threat of communist aggression...
...2. Aerospace Daily, June 26, 1972, p. 315...
...Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mutual Development and Cooperation Act of 1973, Hearings, 93rd Cong., 1st Sess., 1973, p. 197...
...Chrysler...
...Unlike MAP aid, the FMS program is not a "giveaway" financed by the U.S...
...and, Gabriel Kolko, "Vietnam and the Future of U.S...
...To arm CF-5 fighters bought /1972 ATR from Canada 2 Submarines, displ: 1870 t. Ex-USN...
...3 While the logic and goals of this policy have been hotly debated, there is widespread agreement that it was not effective in curbing major arms purchases by the larger and more prosperous Latin American powers...
...missile n.a...
...aerospace industry was equipped to handle non-Vietnam orders...
...Other Latin American countries, in line with their traditional policy of matching the military capabilities of rivals, acquired Mirages of their own...
...7-21...
...Honeywell...
...and restraints on the use of Food-for-Peace funds for military purposes...
...4 0 This finding is further confirmed by the fact that in those fields where the United States has traditionally been the principal supplier - e.g., transport aircraft, trainers, and helicopters - there has been no pronounced "turn towards Europe...
...IX, No...
...arms export policies - can be seen then as part of Washington's long-term strategy to perpetuate U.S...
...305-7...
...Textron...
...9 for spare /1972-3 ATR parts only 1 Destroyer...
...failure in Vietnam...
...3 Despite such pressure, Congress has been reluctant to lift its restrictions on military sales to Latin America...
...Thus William D. Perreault, Vice President of Lockheed (which has sold dozens of its C-130 Hercules transports in Latin America) told me: "When you buy an airplane, you also buy a supplier and a supply line - in other words, you buy a political partner...
...restrictions on the export of high-technology hardware are the product of a paternalistic, humanitarian effort on the part of Congress to speed economic development in Latin America...
...General Motors...
...the impending repeal of OAS sanctions against Cuba: and Panama's campaign to terminate U.S...
...52-3...
...Brazil spent about $400 million on U.S...
...HCFA, Mutual Development 1973, p. 262...
...Total sales in thousands...
...Many observers believe that this act constitutes a violation of the 1973 Cease Fire Agreement, which provided for the one-to-one replacement of lost weapons with others having the Northrop F-5E International Fighter- 15 - same characteristics and properties...
...excludes training, etc.- 19 - (UH-1H and 260B helicopters...
...Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Foreign Assistance Act of 1974, Conference Committee Report, 93rd Cong., 1st Sess., 1974...
...9. Business Week, May 25, 1968...
...s2 ARMS AND POWER: THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT AFTER VIETNAM Clearly, the conventional analysis of U.S...
...policy of collaboration...
...Boeing...
...equivalent, the M-41, "has not been available because of Vietnam priorities...
...52...
...Department of Defense table...
...The turrets on modem tanks usually are cast in one piece, and Latin America does not have the means to do this on a production basis...
...aSource: U.S...
...total package: 1973/1975-6 ATR;AW&ST, 6 Northrop F-5B trainer $120 million 8-19-74 5 Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport /1975 AAS,1-75 2 Sikorsky S-61 ASW helicopter On order...
...Copyright 1975 by the North American Congress on Latin America, Inc...
...2 Major purchases of external defense hardware (such as tanks, supersonic aircraft and large warships) were considered militarily unnecessary and economically harmful, since they retarded development by consuming an excessive share of scarce national resources...
...Westinghouse Electric...
...This originally meant," the State Department noted in 1973, "that qualitatively their standards of weapons acquisitions were comparable to those of major powers, although quantitatively much more limited...
...Even such a seemingly simple weapon as a battle tank presents many difficult manufacturing problems for Latin America's current industrial capacity...
...2 0 The United States could facilitate development, in this outlook, by providing economic assistance through the Alliance for Progress, by promoting private investments, and by helping the military to maintain the necessary environment of "order and stability...
...Charles A. Meyer, "U.S...
...national security objectives is clearly brought out in the case of Chile: although Washington limited economic aid to $3 million during Allende's presidency and blocked all.forms of credit in a carefully-orchestrated campaign to underminethe Popular Unity government, the Pentagon gave Chile over $25 million in FMS credits and held frequent sales meetings with Chilean officers - thus providing U.S...
...This trend is not expected to be affected by Soviet export programs or by the entry of another arms merchant - Israel - into the Latin American military market - see box...
...for Weapons," AW&ST (December 9, 1974), p. 21...
...hardware and the backup logistical support . .. still have the preference of most military commanders in Latin America," Cecil Brownlow reported in 1973, despite "a series of Congressional restrictions directed specifically at Latin America...
...For an insight on Congress' views, and for the text of all 1974 restrictions on foreign aid, see: U.S...
...This view is confirmed by reports of stepped-up marketing efforts by U.S...
...3 2 Brownlow has not been adverse to employing Cold War "scare" tactics in the effort to pressure Congress: in one essay, suggestively titled "Soviets Push Fighters in Latin America," he reported that Moscow was on the verge of major deals for the sale of MiG-21 supersonic fighters to Peru Ecuador and Chile - even though Aviation Week had repeatedly stated that those countries were negotiating with Washington for purchase of the F-5E...
...veterans to train Haiti's security forces...
...If security implies anything, it implies a minimal measure of order and stability...
...credits were being extended for economic development...
...military equipment.a Foreign Military Sales Deliveries: Value of equipment delivered under FMS (government-to-government) program.b Commercial Sales Deliveries: Value of equipment delivered by U.S...
...U.S...
...6 5 s 4. Access to Military Elites: Arms sales enhance the political leverage of a supplier in another important respect: by providing access to foreign military leaders - who in most Latin American countries play a decisive role in national politics...
...The acclerating transfer of advanced military equipment to Latin America - spurred by U.S...
...Dollars in thousands) E. Asia AUSTRALIA BURMA CHINA (TAIWAN) INDONESIA JAPAN KOREA, SO...
...And, as we shall see, sales of high-technology military hardware introduces new forms of dependency into the Third World...
...2 on order 1970/1972+ ATR;Int.1-75 4 Sikorsky S-61D4 ASW helicopter For Argentine Navy 1971/1972 ATR 6 Hughes 500M light helicopter " " " 1971/1972 ATR 120+ Hughes OH-6 scout helicopter Licensed production in n.a./1974+ ATR;DMS,2-74 Argentine 2 Destroyers, displ: 2200 t. Ex-USN...
...policy on sales of high-technology armaments...
...Air Force officials in 1972-73 during negotiations on the sale of F-5E's...
...controls on U.S...
...According to the Commander of Brazil's Marine Corps, "A nation is independent when it manufactures its own arms...
...Such leverage accrues from the fact that most modern armaments require spare parts, training aids and maintenance that can only be obtained from the producer...
...Over 500,000 U.S...
...Arms Trade Registers: The Arms Trade with the Third World (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1975...
...8The subcommittee's work was secret...
...Since the arms market in the developed countries is already saturated, U.S...
...Although the F-5E is three times as expensive as the F-5A and incorporates many new design features, the Pentagon denied violating the agreement because "an F-5 is an F-5 is an F-5...
...3 Thus while U.S...
...5 6 At the same time, Pentagon strategists have fashioned a new "high-technology, capital-intensive" war machine, composed of airmobile shock troops and the latest bombers, guns, and missiles, that is primed for "lightning" assaults in strategic Third World areas (particularly the Middle East).s' This combination of diplomatic flexibility and new interventionist options is designed to halt the decline of U.S...
...and, Michael T. Klare, "Intervention Game Plans for the '70s," Commonweal (March 14, 1975), pp...
...Nelson A. Rockefeller, "Quality of Life in the Americas," Report on a Presidential Mission for the Western Hemisphere, Department of State Bulletin (December 8, 1969), p. 516...
...261,116 49,510 42,342 27,983 26,872 25,327 23,412 18,395 17,609 15,676 81,123 52,367 44,027 41,945 30,130 26,525 13,437 13,377 11,275 8,918 802,810 109,522 98,819 48,691 32,997 32,378 28,546 27,944 24,347 22,833 508,784 223,905 190,681 171,163 165,185 94,770 68,245 50,783 32,937 27,240 271,833 220,731 220,369 168,841 156,517 125,959 122,291 119,726 90,865 60,332 -25U.S...
...sales weakened Washington's ties with Latin America's all-important military leadership while depriving the U.S...
...if Washington says "no" to its replacement, "that's the end," the plane is rendered useless...
...Ibid...
...domination: Venezuela's nationalization of U.S...
...A RAND Corporation survey of postwar arms transfers shows that Latin American countries almost invariably turned to Europe for their new-construction hardware...
...agreed to provide technical and manufacturing assistance to Israel's arms industry...
...Another reason for Northrop's continued popularity with Third World customers is its willingness to subcontract part of its production work to countries which make major purchases of the firm's products...
...16-17, and "Brazil Again Looks to U.S.," pp...
...The opening salvo in this campaign was fired by Nelson Rockefeller (then Governor of New York State) who told President Nixon upon his return from Latin America in 1969: The United States must face more forthrightly the fact that while the military in the other American nations are alert to the problems of internal security, they do not feel that this is their only role and responsibility...
...credit ceilings will provide additional FMS financing for such sales...
...and the Philippines...
...Lockheed Aircraft...
...However, most Latin American governments were not willing to be 10 - so manipulated...
...And even Aviation Week has had to acknowledge that the Peruvians seek to avoid a preponderant dependence on any supplier and thus would probably "continue to resist Soviet pressures to buy the Russian MiG-21 jet fighter no matter how enticing a financial deal is offered...
...Arms Sales to Latin America," p. 10...
...aerospace officials have consistently emphasized this factor in interviews...
...producers would have slack capacity...
...Department of Defense, Military Assistance & Foreign Military Sales Facts (1974 ed...
...This is not to say that other factors - arising from the structural weaknesses and contradictions of capitalism itself - have not contributed to the current crisis...
...Military Assistance Policy Toward Latin America," Department of State Bulletin (August 14, 1969), p. 102...
...arms sales to Latin America, and the high degree of coordination between government and industry forces, suggests that important interests are at stake...
...19 In the new counterinsurgency strategies devised by Kennedy's military advisers, underdevelopment and stagnation were seen as the principal causes of revolution, and thus economic modernization was the sine qua non of successful counterrevolution...
...In a widely-quoted 1969 statement to the Senate Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs, Assistant Secretary of State Charles A. Meyer suggested that "Latin Americans have become puzzled and even suspicious of our motives...
...Although the Administration never spelled out how F-5E sales to Latin America impinge upon U.S...
...As noted by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research in 1973: Heavy South American purchases of arms from European sources during 1967-72 seldom reflected a deliberate policy of turning away from U.S...
...products in world trade (caused in part by an imbalance between domestic military and non-military investments) has resulted in mounting balance-of-payments deficits...
...The aerospace industry, for its part, began an intensive lobbying campaign to reverse U.S...
...At this meeting, and included in the membership of the IAC, were the presidents or chairmen of some of the top U.S...
...This policy was first spelled out in a November, 1971 "memorandum of understanding," under which the U.S...
...capability to control Latin American acquisitions was sharply limited by the presence of alternative suppliers from Western Europe, many of whom were riding a crest of European economic recovery and aggressive government support [for arms sales abroad...
...5 4 Militarily, the war exposed the inadequacies of U.S...
...1974/1976+ NYT,10-8-74 16 Cessna A-37B COIN aircraft FMS sale: $12-m...
...For discussion, see: "The Dollar Crisis," Monthly Review (May 1973), pp...
...Since Nixon's decision of June 1973, Latin America is no longer barred from acquisition of U.S...
...arms sales campaign in Latin America has already produced significant results: in mid-1973, Brazil finalized its purchase of 42 F-5 aircraft (36 F-5E fighters and six F-5B trainers), and in June 1974 Chile announced plans to acquire 18 F-5E's and 16 Cessna A-37 counterinsurgency planes...
...firms in order to acquire experience in the manufacture of advanced aircraft components.79 Such agreements tend to become self-perpetuating, moreover, because the advanced industrial countries will continue to monopolize the world's scientific and technical resources...
...global strategy in the post-Vietnam era...
...With the collapse of the U.S...
...Moreover, the continuing legacy of Vietnam precludes the deployment of U.S...
...Washington's arms merchants will naturally concentrate their marketing efforts on the larger and more prosperous countries (especially those with new oil revenues), but will not neglect the smaller countries...
...Quoted in H. Jon Rosenbaum, Arms and Security in Latin America (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 1971), p. 7. 76...
...See, for example: "Latin American Market to Grow," pp...
...In the majority of cases, this means indigenous manpower organized into properly equipped and well-trained armed forces with the help of materiel, training, technology and specialized skills provided by the United States through the Military Assistance Program or as Foreign Military Sales...
...11-25...
...ex-USN /1974 CR,10-17-74 2 Submarines, displ: 1480 t. FMS sale...
...equipment was rarely acquired, partly because of statutory restrictions on weapons exports, and also because of the traditional ties binding Latin American military forces to their European patrons.' Most Latin American armies were trained and advised by French, British or German officers, and military doctrine "tended to be an imitation of what prevailed at the famous military academies of the metropoles at that time...
...arms programs in Latin America was to strengthen the hemisphere's defenses against external (presumably Soviet) attack...
...6 Northrop's F-5E has been sold to many countries and has also been given away through MAP grant programs...
...Indeed, Washifigton's sale of 42 F-5E's to Brazil - the largest arms transactions of its kind since World War II - can be seen as a calculated act to ignite a new arms race in Latin America...
...Many weapons originally designed for the Vietnam conflict were energetically marketed in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, and now Rockwell International is busy filling orders for its once-doomed OV-10 Bronco counterinsurgency aircraft (Venezuela and Thailand have each purchased 16), while Cessna has sold several dozen of its A-37 Dragonfly close support plane to clients in Latin America (24 to Peru, 16 to Chile, and 12 to Ecuador...
...government...
...3 4 THE INDUSTRY ADVISORY COUNCIL: THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX In September 1965, Robert McNamara addressed a meeting of the Industry Advisory Council (IAC), a federal advisory group composed of the most important corporate executives in the country...
...Industry sources insist that these "third country" sales would have gone to the United States had it not been for the export restrictions...
...See box on the Industry Advisory Council...
...We help Third World countries by providing an option...
...Cecil Brownlow, Executive Editor of Aviation Week (the leading industry journal) and a frequent commentator on Latin American military affairs, wrote from Brazil that Congress' "high-handed paternalistic approach to Latin America...
...Among Israel's main customers in Latin America to date have been Mexico, El Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala...
...179-218...
...According to a 1973 RAND Corporation study prepared by Luigi Einaudi (now Henry Kissinger's chief adviser on Latin American affairs), "These pacts typically granted the United States a monopoly on military advisory missions, and thus symbolized de facto U.S...
...In order to keep these production lines alive, Washington turned to the Third World as the only possible outlet for such equipment...
...arms policy in the region and particularly the various factors which precipitated the policy reversal of June 5, 1973...
...The IAC, founded in 1962, represented the concretization of military-industrial ties, and was primarily concerned with overall procurement policies rather than individual company problems...
...Interview with William D. Perreault, Sr., Vice President (Public Relations), The Lockheed Corp., Burbank, Calif., August 27, 1974...
...Strategic Objectives, which in 1965 emphasized internal security and development, now emphasize the attainment of military self-sufficiency in key Third World countries...
...During this meeting, McNamara assured the executives that his publicized efforts to cut Pentagon costs were not intended to whittle away at industry's profits...
...With the outbreak of the World War, the pattern of arms transfers to Latin America shifted abruptly...
...and Access to Military Elites, which in 1965 was exercised through the Military Assistance Program, had to be rechanneled through sales because of the decline in MAP grants...
...arms trade with Latin America and the Third World are: Luigi Einaudi, et...
...affirmed that such action was not likely because "if the planes were transferred it would only be a short time before they have problems because the planes require spare parts and maintenance that can only be done by our experts...
...Hereinafter cited as SIPRI, Arms Trade Registers...
...HCFA, Foreign Assistance FY75, p. 80...
...1974/n.a...
...companies...
...21-2...
...2, March 1975 Published monthly, except May-June and July-August when it is published bi-monthly, at 160 Claremont Ave., New York, NY 10027...
...And, while Latin America has never faced a credible threat from extra-hemispheric attack, the armed forces of the TABLE I: U.S...
...Since arms sales policies impinge upon both the political and economic dimensions of foreign policy, it is not possible to answer these questions without reference to the wider context of U.S...
...Since] the United States had never been a leading supplier of various kinds of new high-performance equipment being sought, [it] could not be said to have 'lost' an established competitive position...
...policy had simply collided with the aspirations and sensitivities of increasingly independent Latin American governments which had more options available to them than those presented by the United States...
...7-21, 38-42...
...Even Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has been issued licenses for the acquisition of U.S...
...Hughes Aircraft...
...when they are in conjunction, as they are today, such sales will be accelerated...
...6 6 ) If handled diplomatically, such contact can lead to a close working relationship with host country military personnel and result in significant political advantages as well as further military sales...
...under ne- 1974/n.a...
...See Rosenbaum, Arms and Security in Latin America, pp...
...The IAC was not simply a pro forma advisory group to the Secretary of Defense...
...economic aid programs), and in response to growing opposition to U.S...
...Research and development capacities in the periphery are too small and the industrial structures are too complex to rely entirely on indigenous designs and production.7" Thus Brazil, with the most ambitious arms program on the continent, has recently been obliged to enter Major U.S...
...8 2 And if Brazil goes through with plans to form a 7,000-man parachute brigade, it will need an additional 48 C-130's at a cost of over $5 million each...
...To quote from one contemporary (1967) State Department policy statement, "Our policy on the acquisition of sophisticated military hardware by Latin American countries was and continues to be that military expenditure by developing countries should not get in the way of development...
...For a research guide on arms sales and additional data, see: NACLA Handbook: The U.S...
...The committee operated much like a corporate marketing division, with a staff of professionals each of whom had specific country sales assignments...
...U.S...
...involvement in the war was winding down, the subcommittee swung into action again to prevent disastrous consequences from cutbacks in military contracts...
...AWST,12-2-74 24 Cessna A-37 COIN plane FMS sale: $12-m...
...SIPRI, Arms Trade Registers...
...fIncludes FMS Sales of $4,000 to Sri Lanka and FMS Sales of $1,000 to Syria...
...such transfers are also used by Washington to strengthen certain countries within each region in order to establish an overall balance-of-power favorable to U.S...
...airlift to Israel in October 1973...
...war manufacturers had their hands full supplying U.S...
...2. Armed Forces Journal, October 1973 and January 1975...
...when peer military establishments are buying conspicuous equipment - particularly new principal combatant vessels, high-performance combat aircraft, and modern tanks...
...for spare parts only /1974 CR,10-17-74 BOLIVIA 3 No.Am...
...beneficiaries of this build-up are: Northrop (manufacturer of the F-5E...
...General Cesar Ruiz Danyau, then Commander in Chief of the Chilean Air Force and a leader of the attempted coup of June 29, 1973, met repeatedly with U.S...
...Institutional pressures to acquire arms always rise...
...counterinsurgency mission diminished the world's assessment of U.S...
...policy of supplying large numbers of counterinsurgency weapons to Latin America hasprobably led to far more violence and suffering than can be attributed to purchases of the Mirage or other high-performance systems from Europe...
...suppliers...
...Thus Under Secretary of State-7 Curtis W. Tarr told the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 1973: Now if you can simply take the position that this opportunity for us to export products made by the working people of this country - if you can afford to set this aside, which some people are willing to do and which I would not dispute on philosophical grounds - then the effect of not going ahead with the transaction is that we lose the influence of our continuing presence in those countries.31 Identical arguments have been advanced by industry spokesmen - suggesting a highlycoordinated campaign to alter public opinion...
...Simultaneously, tne declining competitiveness of U.S...
...Angered by the Mirage purchases (which seemed to nullify the intent of U.S...
...And while their economic status precludes the development of large modern armies, preparedness for external conflict "had continued to influence the military organization and arms procurement of the leading South American countries...
...FOR FURTHER INFORMATION...
...political influence and access to top military policy-makers would be enhanced...
...See: "U.S...
...ATR 18 Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopter For Navy /1974 ATR;MB,74-75 22 Bell UH-lH Iroquois helicopter /1973+ ATR;MB,73-74 25 Cessna T-37 trainer /1972 ATR 5 Submarines, displ: 1500 t. FMS sale...
...In announcing a $2.5 billion arms deal with Iran, the State Department indicated that Iran was "a point of stability" in the Persian Gulf and it was in the United States' interest to help build up the Iranian military (The New York Times, February 22, 1973...
...Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Arms Trade Registers: The Arms Trade With the Third World (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1975), pp...
...This effort was endorsed by the Nixon administration, and in February 1972, IAC members were told by military sales negotiators: This activity (military exports) had a low profile during 1968 and 1969, but the Nixon Doctrine (which called for sending weapons abroad instead of troops) suggested a reassessment of the Defense posture with respect to this activity...
...5 In comparing the Northrop fighters to other, more costly planes, he said Northrop's job was to persuade other governments that "you need a Datsun, not a Chrysler...
...FMC Corp...
...The fundamental response to this threat is quicker and better economic development, but strength- ening internal security is also important.21 By extension of this principle, moreover, excessive arms purchases were believed to undermine security by diverting scarce economic resources away from critical development programs...
...military policy was based on the premise that in a period of revolutionary ferment the top priority for Latin America was the promotion of rapid economic development and that arms purchases should be confined therefore to the most essential items only...
...Strong nationalist sentiment has arisen over what is seen as United States efforts to infringe on the sovereign rights of a country to determine its own military requirements...
...package includes spares, training EL SALVADOR 3 McD-D C-47 transport plane ex-USAF...
...military forces in Cambodia and Laos...
...Department of Defense, Military Assistance and Foreign Military Sales Facts (Washington, D.C.: 1974), pp...
...With their access to the U.S...
...Department of Defense table (1974...
...The official U.S...
...Military Intervention in Chile," NACLA's Latin America Report (July-August, 1974), pp...
...2 3 In line with this outlook, Peru in 1965 decided it needed to replace its aging F-86 interceptors with a modern replacement, preferably the subsonic F-5A Freedom Fighter...
...Most critiques of arms restrictions hinge on a few main points: (1) the United States "lost" a normally secure arms market to Europe because of misguided export policies...
...They are conscious of the more traditional role of the military establishment to defend the nation's territory, and they possess understandable professional pride which creates equally understandable desires for modern arms...
...3 ) There are also indications that the Brazilian navy will establish an amphibious marine brigade equipped with U.S.-built landing craft...
...Sources: 1. Aviation Week & Space Technology, November 2, 1971...
...influence in Latin America has declined while foreign powers, including the Soviet Union, have acquired increased influence and leverage...
...Although the White House proved receptive to Rockefeller's argument, the Congress was not so accommodating...
...Last year the ceiling on credit sales was raised from $100 million to $150 million per year, and in November 1974 the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to abolish the ceiling altogether (it was reinstated in the final bill, however...
...military sales to Latin America in 1967-1972.42 2. Congressional "humanitarianism": The notion that U.S...
...8. Cecil Brownlow, "Report from Brazil," AW&ST (October 8, 1973), p. 7; and, "Export Boom Continues," AW&ST (July 8, 1974), p. 7. 9. Luigi Einaudi, et al., Arms Transfers to Latin America: Towards a Policy of Mutual Respect (Santa Monica: RAND, 1973), p. 1. 10...
...Bell-Textron * According to H. Jon Rosenbaum of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.: "(Modern aircraft and missile manufacture requires the most specialized forms of industrial skill in addition to heavy financial investment, energy sources, and raw materials...
...24, 1973), pp...
...and Latin American military leaders...
...Government arms sales under Foreign Military Sales program...
...Martin Marietta...
...U.S...
...producers of military equipment for the Third World market.' Northrop, whose activities include production of both military and civilian aircraft and the development of communications systems, is a major supplier of fighter planes to Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Vietnam, Brazil and Chile...
...imperial system...
...Some firms predicted that the Pentagon cut-backs would force the closure of entire production facilities - especially those devoted to attack aircraft, helicopters, and other limited-war items...
...arms credits, technology, spare parts and maintenance would rise accordingly...
...dIncludes FMS Sales of $8,542,000 to French Indochina (1950-54...
...On the contrary, it served as a priority-setting council with many of the methods, purposes, and appearances of a corporate board of directors...
...Hereinafter cited as: HCFA, Mutual Development 1973...
...Commission on U.S.-Latin American Relations, The Americas in a Changing World (New York: Center for InterAmerican Relations, 1974), pp...
...following the show (the first of its kind in Latin America), Northrop took its F-5E fighter to several other countries for Pentagon-sponsored demonstration flights...
...At the same time, Latin America's overall dependence on U.S...
...taxpayer and thus does not provoke the same kind of grass-roots opposition faced by most grant programs...
...Following an announcement of the F-5E sales to Chile and Brazil, Aviation Week affirmed that "Northrop's recent sales of its F-5 series . . . are the opening wedges in what should be a substantial U.S...
...Peru's military-led "nationalist revolution...
...and the growing strength and boldness of insurgent movements in Cambodia, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia...
...Westinghouse Electric...
...not available N.A...
...1972 ATR 1 Destroyer, displ: 2370 t. Ex-USN...
...armaments industry restricted, several Latin American governments turned to European arms suppliers for the acquisition of advanced equipment...
...ex-USN /1973 CR,10-17-74 1 Portable drydock, displ: 4200 t. FMS sale...
...As a result of this scandal, Jones, who has been the head of Northrop since he came from the RAND Corp...
...eIncludes FMS Sales of $4,510,000 to Cuba (1950-60), and FMS Sales of $85,000 to Trinidad & Tobago...
...Some insiders at Northrop speculate that "Jones will be gone in a year...
...6 7 Such relationships have grown in importance, Schlesinger noted, because of the decline in MAP grants and the resulting departure of MAAG (Military Assistance Advisory Group) personnel from Latin America...
...Other amendments to these and related statutes place further restrictions on arms sales to Latin America...
...military doctrine gradually became the basis for higher military studies...
...These, and other factors which stimulate arms sales are summarized below:- 13 - ECONOMIC FACTORS 1. Balance of Payments: Ever since October 1971, when America's foreign trade balance showed a net deficit for the first time since 1893, the White House has placed a high priority on efforts to reduce U.S...
...It is clear, from the above, that the current U.S...
...In the conventional analysis of these events, here stated by Einaudi...
...6 3 U.S...
...Agency for International Development, U.S...
...s9 And, while Washington's "hard-sell tactics" have sometimes provoked complaints in some foreign capitals,"s the sales campaign has been a whooping success: while exports of most U.S...
...Second-class postage paid at New York, NY.-3same period, major U.S...
...Arguing that the decline in U.S...
...policymakers, most Latin American military leaders did not fully share Washington's strategic outlook...
...United Aircraft...
...aerospace industry which felt that a normally secure market had been "stolen" by the Europeans (we will examine the accuracy of this finding later), and also alarmed top policymakers in Washington who viewed such "third country" sales as detrimental to U.S...
...Note: This article was written by Diana Roose of NARMIC on the basis of the official Pentagon minutes of IAC meetings...
...But by far the most extensive foreign operations are conducted by Page Communications Engineers, acquired by Northrop in 1959...
...In February 1975, for instance, there were 8,615 U.S...
...6 8 5. Strategic Objectives: So far we have examined the role of arms sales in developing a bilateral relationship between buyer and seller...
...Arms Sales to Latin America," p. 14...
...517-18...
...share of the Latin American arms market is expected to grow substantially...
...MAP = Military Assistance Program Commercial Deliveries = Direct arms sales by U.S...
...strategic objectives...
...and, The Los Angeles Times, December 1, 1974...
...Most U.S...
...295-6...
...arms exports to the region from an average of $30 million per year in 1966-70 to $113 million in 1973 and an estimated $191 million in 1974...
...the ouster of pro-U.S...
...7. New York Times, November 30, 1973...
...arms export drive is being fueled by multiple political and economic considerations...
...restraints on sales of advanced military hardware originated in a futile effort of liberal Congresspeople to promote development, is one of the basic themes of the anti-restriction campaign...
...General Electric...
...Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs, Military Assistance and Foreign Military Sales Facts (Washington, D.C., 1974...
...Source: U.S...
...1973/1974+ AWST,7-30-73 14 Bell 212 Twin-Pac helicopter $11.5-m package /1973-74 ATR 13 Bell UH-lH Iroquois helicopter /1973 ATR 2 Destroyers, displ: 2120 t. FMS sale...
...Footnotes: (Abbreviation: AW&ST = Aviation Week and Space Technology) 1. The New York Times, June 6, 1973...
...FMS sale-$229,500 ea...
...7 ' At the same time, Washington has delayed or prohibited sales to certain countries when it was felt that such transfers would shift the military balance in an unfavorable direction...
...ex-USN...
...Under the military sales program, Pentagon officials acted as middlemen in making arrangements with foreign governments to buy American military equipment and placing orders with American firms...
...The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research noted in 1973 that "The professional forces of the leading South American countries tend to maintain more or less constant ratios or a form of parity with the armed forces and weapons systems of their neighbors...
...Although the final chapter of the U.S...
...arms sales to Latin America during 1968-72 totalled only $335 million, while European sales came to over $1.2 billion...
...These presidents had expressed concern about McNamara's public statements calling for enormous changes in military procurement and management...
...North American Aviation No.Am...
...The objective, according to State Department and Pentagon officials, was to help Israel finance more of its own defense needs by building up its arms industry and selling military products abroad.' This policy has now paid off with substantial Israeli arms sales to Latin America...
...2 4 Washington's decision to prohibit sales of the F-5A to Peru set off a chain of events whose consequences still affect the arms trade today...
...arms transfers are evaluated by the National Security Council for their impact on U.S...
...41 Moreover, the gap between U.S...
...Cecil Brownlow, "Latin American Market to Grow," AW&ST (November 25, 1974), pp...
...7 0 This second goal is explicitly cited as the rationale for massive U.S...
...2 " To overcome these obstacles to a more flexible export program, Administration spokesmen have conducted a vociferous campaign for repeal of all statutory restraints...
...war machine never seriously threatened the survival of the NLF's guerrilla army, three presidents staked the credibility of U.S...
...economy of badly needed export revenues, these officials sought to reverse the Administration's position on arms sales and to persuade Congress to rescind all sales restrictions...
...Cecil Brownlow, "Second Chance in Latin America," AW&ST (November 25, 1974), p. 11...
...For discussion, see: Virginia Brodine and Mark Selden, eds., Open Secret: The Kissinger-Nixon Doctrine in Asia (New York: Harper & Row, 1972...
...Foreign Policy," Liberation (May 1973), pp...
...1974 FMC Corp...
...thus diminishing the once-formidable U.S...
...provided a driving wedge for France and Great Britain into wider areas of the aerospace market there and generated at least a temporary turn away from [North] American military hardware...
...FMC Corp...
...16-17...
...16-17...
...Department of Defense table (1974...
...Includes FMS Sales of $8,000 to Niger and $6,000 to Senegal...
...hegemony is probably the most important international consequence of Vietnam, there are other important economic and military consequences of the war that affect U.S...
...POLITICO-MILITARY FACTORS 3. Political Leverage: As we have seen, arms sales are believed to be a source of considerable political advantage to the seller...
...Address all correspondence to Box 57, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025 or Box 226, Berkeley, CA 94701...
...and, "Financing Terms Cloud Peruvian F-5 Buy," AW&ST (July 15, 1974), pp...
...The subcommittee helped analyze market studies of developed and underdeveloped countries, and a special industry advisory group was set up in Europe to do business with NATO allies...
...19-20...
...According to Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger, "The degree of influence of the supplier is potentially substantial, and typically, those relationships are long and enduring...
...Arms Sales to Latin America," p. 25...
...Thus the failure of the U.S...
...The result of all this is a natural resentment on the part of other American nations when the United States refuses to sell modem items of equipment...
...While each of these statements contain some elements of truth, they also hide or distort other, more important truths: 1. The "lost" arms market: This finding is perhaps the most widely accepted and the most supportable by the evidence: U.S...
...14-18...
...Its domestic production schemes notwithstanding, Brazil is now and will continue to be Washington's major arms customer in Latin America...
...7 After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, however, Washington's assessment of the security threat in Latin America underwent a rapid transformation...
...1,876 - 31 16 78 32 2,034 - 2,237 437 ECUADOR 4,310 20 315 4 - - 4,650 638 4,574 3,281 EL SALVADOR 1,465 -11 * 70 399 1,945 500 1,503 2,494 GUATEMALA 2,541 464 8,126 2,344 3,709 489 18,174 7,068 11,943 1,983 HAITI 244 - - - - 288 512 - 224 224 HONDURAS 1,092 - - 27 5,468 702 7,288 - 1,133 389 JAMAICA 8 8 9 3 7 43 77 - 29 755 MEXICO 11,864 12 437 175 894 411 13,792 4,298 12,477 5,197 1974 35,074 111 88,264 148 57,725 81,424 1,248 4,852 5,407 12,078 19,931 4 305,906 1950-1974 1,130,870 2,631 572,226 963 424,617 97,449 48,963 119,548 13,947 31,089 65,108 1,167 2,517,120 FMS Credits 1950-1974 115,586 318,869 3,500 34,771 112,883 55,103 1,492 8,600 19,000 669,804 FMS Deliveries 1950-1973 811,991 2,353 234,301 815 291,283 6,549 6,933 101,603 8,308 9,791 24,268 8 1,506,745 Commercial Sales 1960-1973 39,147 3,565 28,058 16,822 436,764 8,851 24,977 2,513 2,337 30,220 26,133 9,433 628,820 -26FMS FMS Deli- Commercial Foreign Military Sale Orders Credits veries Sales 1950-1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1950-1974 1950-1974 1950-1973 1960-1973 NICARAGUA 2,239 93 674 92 134 133 3,365 - 3,053 1,599 PANAMA 16 14 9 6 1,618 1,887 3,550 - 44 2,723 PARAGUAY 377 * 27 12 417 217 384 347 PERU 33,293 2,195 1,526 900 24,590 43,620 106,123 34,540 37,522 17,117 URUGUAY 2,717 241 1,982 1,684 1,612 1,156 9,390 8,349 5,667 1,176 VENEZUELA 104,937 777 1,677 42,761 24,662 4,377 179,192 115,162 117,336 37,439 LATIAMERICA 380,179 25,251 55,394 110,347 112,820 191,150 875,141 541,211 498,690 189,395 Near East & S. Asia EGYPT 358 - - - - - 358 - 358 2,044 GREECE 36,961 29,187 24,758 181,926 57,087 434,926 764,845 208,500 112,587 17,960 INDIA 58,266 2,094 856 1,515 * 215 62,947 27,310 60,054 15,925 IRAN 647,497 113,284 396,613 528,022 2.108,787 3,794,369 7,588,574 504,034 898,886 116,424 IRAQ 13,150 - - - - - 13,152 - 13,152 5,801 ISRAEL 536,687 44,790 379,961 399,712 197,114 2,117,623 3,675,887 2,411,744 1,096,283 184,046 "JORDAN 118,431 29,367 26,419 19,547 9,213 50,916 253,894 68,991 177,102 4,088 KUWAIT -- - * 53 18,154 18,207 - 813 LEBANON 2,737 1,575 187 299 5,137 9,700 19,635 20,000 5,963 4,952 PAKISTAN 78,798 4,592 22,532 449 22,079 7,895 136,345 7,917 89,135 19,323 SAUDI ARABIA 161,468 14,854 95,815 342,295 83,984 587,698 1,286,113 257,713 287,806 125,129 TURKEY 4,512 2,524 1,154 2,452 212,435 17,143 243,219 110,000 14,432 19,578 YEMEN - - - - - 2,634 2,634 NEAR EAST & S 1,658,870 242,267 948,306 1,479,217 2,695,969 7,041,274 14,065,907 3,408,017 2,755,798 518,406 ASIA, Totale Africa ETHIOPIA 716 6 - 10 - 469 1,201 11,000 732 331 GHANA 3 61 * - 187 251 - 55 169 KENYA - - - - - - * - - 2,647 LIBERIA 1,223 - - - 1,368 648 3,240 3,134 1,223 983 LIBYA 20,867 5,447 632 2,873 174 19 30,012 - 29,323 31,935 MALI 84 5 - 48 - - 137 500 137 - MOROCCO 24,399 2,437 2,310 7,833 2,651 8,302 47,932 72,477 31,648 1,866 NIGERIA 352 - - 2,409 687 4,476 7,924 335 2,881 6,530 SO...
...Under the Lend Lease Act of 1941, Latin American armies were supplied with U.S...
...Cecil Brownlow, "Peru Military Buildup Worries Neighbors," AW&ST (December 2, 1974), p. 22...
...troops were committed to Vietnam, along with the full technological resources of the world's most advanced industrial power...
...Brownlow, "Sao Paulo Air Show," pp...
...2, 8. 5. Ibid., pp...
...Robert S. McNamara, The Essence of Security (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), p. 149...
...According to IAC minutes, "The principal objective of the subcommittee representing a large variety of companies was to increase exports...
...American Motors...
...General Dynamics...
...These ties led the major South American powers to calculate their weapons needs on the basis of European military doctrine, which stressed defense against attack by hostile neighbors...
...20 - 17...
...7 4 As European competition diminishes, however, U.S...
...Aviation Week and Space Technology, September 24, 1973 and December 9, 1974.- 18 fighters has been very poor (repairs are costly and time-consuming, and the engines must be sent to France for a major overhaul after every 300 hours of flight) and other European equipment has been delivered late or with unexplained cost overruns...
...These problems have, in turn, been greatly aggravated by the growing scarcity of strategic raw materials, particularly oil...
...ARMS SALES IN THE 1970s -TOWARDS A NEW ARMS RACE...
...What looks like Israeli "competition" with U.S...
...During the 1960s, as we have seen, economic development was seen as a necessary component of an overall U.S...
...2 6 The response to these events in the United States was manifold...
...Frequently the sales agreement will require the seller to assign technicians, instructors and advisers to the buyer's armed services on a long-term basis...
...20-3...
...1972 McDonnell Douglas...
...The Wilcox Electric Corp...
...Thus Washington has expedited F-5E sales to Chile and Brazil (both of whose governments follow U.S...
...weapons producers (many of the major aerospace firms, for instance, have recently established new sales offices in South America...
...Policy...
...FMS sale /1974 CR,10-17-74 COLOMBIA 1 Destroyer, displ: 2350 t. Ex-USN...
...3 6 Nevertheless, a careful study of Latin American arms acquisition patterns since 1945 suggests that the conventional analysis is deficient: while Washington provided most of the arms acquired by Latin America in the postwar era, it did not provide any of the new high-performance weapons purchased during this period (except for a few warships...
...For discussion, see: Michael T. Klare, "War Games and Scenarios: The Army of the 1970's," The Nation (January 26, 1974), pp...
...The IAC members were given a steady stream of reports on such topics as reducing foreign tariffs, establishing competitive prices, and providing enough credit...
...Control *History *Plus Charts& Graphs Copies Available From: > STOP THE B1 BOMBER: NATIONAL PEACE CONVERSION CAMPAIGN 112 South 16th St...
...Ibid., p. 16...
...officials with "legitimate" access to these officers while they were conspiring to overthrow the constitutional government...
...power abroad and the concomitant rise in challenges to U.S...
...Ulrich Albrecht, et al., "Armaments and Underdevelopment," Bulletin of Peace Proposals, vol...
...4 (By far the largest chunk of this money went for the purchase of a total of 77 Mirage jet fighters by five of the Big Six...
...General Electric...
...Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, The International Transfer of Conventional Arms, A Report to the Congress (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1974), pp...
...See also: Cecil Brownlow, "Peru Military Buildup Worries Neighbors," AW&ST (December 2, 1974), pp...
...2) U.S...
...Einaudi, Arms Transfers to Latin America, pp...
...ARMS SALES POLICIES: FROM DEVELOPMENTALISM TO MILITARISM Prior to World War II, Latin America obtained most of its armaments from Europe...
...counterinsurgency mission in Vietnam and the corresponding rise of anti-interventionist sentiments at home, Washington has been obliged to shift the burden of local policing to client regimes and selected local powers in the Third World...
...United Aircraft...
...Brownlow, "Brazil Presses Aircraft Industry," pp...
...For example, Northrop Worldwide Aircraft Service, Inc...
...for aircraft carrier 1970/1972-3 ATR 25 de Mayo 3 Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo plane 1 delivered 1972...
...But as U.S...
...view was summarized by Raymond J. Klaus AIDrOctsM't Barrett, a Foreign Service Officer attached to U.S...
...4 In an interview, Northrop's Vice-President for Public Relations described the company's policy of producing low-cost aircraft as follows: "We're in the option business...
...imperial system...
...The rapprochement with China, strategic arms limitations agreements with Moscow, "Vietnamization" and the Nixon Doctrine, Kissinger's "shuttle diplomacy" in the Middle East and the "new dialogue" with Latin America - all represent 12 - attempts to increase U.S...
...military power abroad have been reinforced by another war-related factor: while the United States poured billions of dollars into a costly ground war in Asia, other major powers - not so encumbered - channeled like amounts into the acquisition of new high-performance weapons (missile cruisers, tanks, jet fighters, battlefield missiles, etc...
...FMS sale: $122,400 /1972 ATR DOMINICAN REP...
...The subcommittee concentrated its discussions on credit, pricing policies and efforts to obtain higher levels of Foreign Military Sales credits from Congress...
...influence has been waning (for reasons we will explore later), there is no evidence that Paris and Moscow have acquired additional influence of their own...
...and, Willard F. Barber and C. Neale Ronning, Internal Security and Military Power (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1966...
...Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, "Arms Sales in Latin America," Press Release, Washington, D.C., July 1973...
Vol. 9 • March 1975 • No. 2
