Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2001 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press

ASSAULT ON DRUG CROP IS DELAYED

Bankruptcy halts acquisition of planes to spray Colombian fields

WASHINGTON -- The State Department will delay plans to expand its fleet of 
drug spraying planes in Colombia after the planes' bankrupt manufacturer 
shut down its assembly lines this month.

Ayres Corp. of Albany, Ga., had won the contract without having to compete 
for it, despite a rival's claim Ayres' shaky finances made it undependable.

The delay is a setback to the $1.3 billion, U.S.-funded plan to step up 
drug eradication in Colombia. Since the mid-1990s, State Department 
contractors have worked with Colombian police in fumigating coca and opium 
crops, the raw materials for cocaine and heroin.

Ayres halted production Aug. 3, just five days before it was due to deliver 
the first of nine single-engine, propeller-driven T-65 planes.

Those planes, along with three twin-engine OV-10 planes the State 
Department is refurbishing, would have increased the 11-plane fleet to 23 
planes by February.

The additional planes are "extremely important because we're trying to go 
after an exploding amount of coca production and opium production," said 
Barry McCaffrey, the former White House drug policy director.

"You want to have a mass of spray aircraft that you can move around the 
country and attack these criminal operations all in one fell swoop and then 
move somewhere else," he said.

The State Department declined to provide specifics on the shutdown's 
effect. "We will not be able to increase our support of the Colombian 
National Police's aerial eradication program as quickly as we had 
originally envisioned," the department said.

Congress provided $20 million for the Ayres planes and the refurbished 
OV-10s. Fred Ayres, the president of the plane company, said Ayres' share 
of that was about $15 million.

Ayres' main creditor, GATX Capital Corp. of San Francisco, has taken over 
the company's assets and hopes to find a buyer soon, GATX spokesman Glenn 
Hickerson said. If it does, the first planes could be completed by year's 
end, he said.

It was not clear if the State Department would wait for the sale. The 
department said it is exploring its legal options and examining ways to get 
planes soon.
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MAP posted-by: Beth