Chilean arms sale breaks informal weapons ban

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July 2001

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Chilean arms sale breaks informal weapons ban
Breaking with a long-observed, if informal policy to refrain from selling high-tech weaponry to South American nations, the Bush Administration on June 13 agreed to sell 10 advanced F-16 fighter jets, two KC-135 mid-air refueling tankers, and laser targeting devices to Chile in an arms packages valued at $714 million.

With the exception of a 1981 sale of 24 F-16s to Venezuela during the Reagan administration, no advanced weaponry has been sold to South American nations since the Carter administration began an informal ban on such sales in 1978, according to Erik Floden, director of the Conventional Arms Transfer project at the Council for a Livable World. Floden explained that advanced weaponry includes "aircraft, planes, major weapons systems that give a country not only the ability to defend their own borders but give them the ability to project their power across their borders."

The Chilean package represents the first sale of American warplanes to Latin America since the Clinton administration officially lifted the embargo on the sale of advanced weapons to the region in 1997. The decision to buy the planes—made by Lockheed Martin—comes after three years of deliberations. Chile's request triggers a 30-day congressional review that expires July 13. If Congress approves, Chile could buy the most modern F-16s in the U.S. inventory. The F-16s would be built at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. The tankers would come from Air Force inventories.

The final version of the deal did exclude advanced medium-range, air-to-air missiles that had originally been included in the sale. In February Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and eight other Democrats urged President Bush not to sell the missiles, calling them "unnecessary and potentially destabilizing."

Floden says he was unable to see what threat the Chileans are trying to address with this arms purchase and worried that such a costly expansion of the Chilean military could only destabilize the region while diminishing Chile's capacity to respond to its social problems.

"The F-16s model they will receive is the equal of anything in the US arsenal," says Floden. "This is not just a little business transaction; this will fundamentally alter the regional security structure. Other countries will be compelled to upgrade their military capacity as well. . . . [They} are not going to sit by and watch Chile build up a sophisticated force."

That's too bad , says Floden. Considering the terrible conditions that prevail throughout the region, he says most South American nations would be better off focusing their limited resources on beefing up their social, economic, or political institutions instead of their military.

Commenting on the deal in February, a Washington Post editorial noted: "Almost nothing about the sale makes sense. For Chile, it is not only a poor use of resources—the planes will cost nearly
$3 out of every $100 Chile earns in annual exports—but a poor use of military resources: The armed forces will have to spend 90 percent of their current procurement budget for a decade to pay off Lockheed Martin."—Kevin Clarke

For more information:
Statement from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency—requires Adobe Acrobat Reader
Federation of American Scientists, Arms Sales Monitoring Project
The "Arms Bazaar of the Americas"
Mojo Wire: US arms sales

Related news:
US restores military ties with Indonesia

The Bush administration announced on Friday June 15th that it would resume military ties with Indonesia. As the Los Angeles Times explained, "the change is aimed at enabling the United States to regain influence with Indonesia's armed forces at a time of growing political tumult there."

The Los Angeles Times reported that the decision was made weeks ago but the announcement was delayed to avoid Congressional uproar. One senior US official said on the condition of anonymity, "We have to approach Capitol Hill very carefully on this." The anonymous source said that the administration wanted to wait for a moment free of political unrest, riots or threats of impeachment to make their announcement, but instead "the situation in Indonesia has gotten worse."

Since Indonesian independence in 1975, the United States has provided more than a billion dollars in military aid

For more information:
"US Arms Transfers to Indonesia 1975-1997: Who's Influencing Whom?"

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