cannabisnews.com: Sikorsky Sells 30 Copters for War on Drugs 





Sikorsky Sells 30 Copters for War on Drugs 
Posted by FoM on December 19, 2000 at 08:34:52 PT
By Wayne E. Travers Jr.
Source: New Haven Register 
Sikorsky Aircraft will deliver 30 S-70 Black Hawk helicopters to aid the Colombian government’s war on drugs, company officials said Monday. The helicopters will be ready by late 2001 as a result of two recently signed contracts valued at about $221 million. Both contracts will help "stabilize" the Sikorsky work force, spokesman William Tuttle said, but no additional hiring is expected.
The S-70 is the export version of the UH-60, in U.S. Army service since 1978. Variants of the UH-60 are in operation or on order in 22 nations.The first contract, valued at $116 million, calls for 16 aircraft to be delivered between July and December 2001. It was signed Friday, Tuttle said.Those aircraft will support the U.S.-sponsored "Plan Colombia," a $1.3 billion aid package earmarked to help Colombia battle domestic narcotics traffickers.The second agreement, signed a day earlier, calls for 14 Black Hawks valued at $106 million, Sikorsky officials said.The company expects to deliver to the Colombian government by the end of 2001. Sikorsky officials said they had no information on how those aircraft would be used.Colombian National Police will use the S-70 to reach remote mountain coca and poppy fields. It has been estimated that up to 90 percent of the cocaine sold in the United States and two-thirds of the heroin on the East Coast comes from Colombia.The helicopter can carry up to 11 fully-outfitted troops or four stretchers, according to the company. Its external cargo hook can carry up to 9,000 pounds.The S-70 has a range of more than 300 miles and can reach speeds of nearly 200 miles per hour, according to Sikorsky.The Black Hawk should be a "pretty potent weapon" in fighting the well-equipped private armies protecting Colombian drug operations, according to Bill Dane, an analyst with Newtown-based Forecast International. Source: New Haven Register (CT)Author: Wayne E. Travers, Jr.Published: December 19, 2000Copyright: 2000, New Haven RegisterContact: letters nhregister.comWebsite: http://www.ctcentral.com/Forum: http://www.ctcentral.com/CannabisNews Articles - Colombiahttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=+colombia 
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on December 19, 2000 at 11:41:39 PT:
Brushfire wars, 21st Century style.
Many years ago, right after WW2, there was a lot of concern about how to keep the war-fueled US economy from going bust when the shooting died out. The concept of 'brushfire wars' was initiated as policy, supposedly to checkmate Communism but in actuality an attempt to throttle nationalistic movements in nations controlled by US corporate interests. This policy essentially ensured the armaments industry with a presumably inexhaustible supply of 'conflicts' to 'protect US (economic) interests'. That is, so long as the Soviet Union remained Public Enemy Number One. Thus was born the military/industrial complex.Right after the Soviet Union collapsed, there was a lot of talk about how we were going to spend the Peace Dividend that was expected: after all, if we didn't have to spend all that money on defense, what shall we spend it on? Of course, that tacitly assumed that the military/industrial complex would just dry up and blow away, now that it wasn't needed. Wrongheaded thinking.The M/I complex was faced with the same problem as it was at the end of WW2: how to perpetuate itself...and the same answer was found. Except this time, the 'enemy' didn't wave a flag with a hammer-and-sickle on it. The 'enemy' was illicit drugs...and the purveyors thereof. And since the sources were largely extranational, then there would be plenty of opportunity for foreign adventurism. The Generals polished their brass, the troops polished their rifles, and off we go - to Colombia.Oh, yes, I'm sure the Sikorsky people are very happy right now. But I can't help but wonder how happy some of them might be if their or their friends sons or daughters are flying in those shiny new choppers and get shot down by missiles purchased by the narcos from equally enterprising arms merchants.In an novel by Anton Myrer there is an old Persian story about an eagle brought down by an archer. As the eagle lays dying, it looks at the feathers of the shaft running through it and says, "It is sometimes by our own hand, not the means of others, that is our undoing." When will we ever learn?Book review of 'Once an Eagle'http://unclesam.net/cny/write/once-a.htm
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on December 19, 2000 at 09:08:31 PT:
$221 Million Down a Rat Hole
I am pleased for the Sikorsky company and their stockholders. Unfortunately, they will be the only ones to benefit. More Colombians on all sides, and American mercenaries will die in the jungles thanks to our interference in their domestic dispute. 
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