Americas Quarterly - Winter 2012

trucks, jeeps, field kitchens, engineering supplies, tents, gloves, and hats. Peru received a mobile field hospital and other equipment in 2010 worth $300 million.

ARGENTINA 4 armored personnel carriers

BOLIVIA 6 light trainer/fighter jets (K- 8 Karakorum)

6 multipurpose helicopters 2 patrol boats

2 medium transport aircraft (Antonov An- 24)

500 Red Arrow- 8 anti-tank missiles

ECUADOR 2 trainer aircraft

4 air search radar ( 2 to be delivered)

2 MA- 60 transport aircraft (to be delivered)

VENEZUELA 10 air search radar (estimated)

25 K- 8 Karakorum

100 short range anti-aircraft missiles 8 Antonov An- 12 transport aircraft

11 jeeps

25 portable surface-to-air missiles 72 trucks

3,000 122-millimeter rockets

1 transport aircraft

13 105-millimeter towed guns

ARMS SALES AND TRANSFERS: CHINA-LATIN AMERICA

5TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER The military technology transfer with Argentina is instructive. Argentina has produced sophisticated aircraft, including jets, since the 1940s and 1950s. The Fá-brica Argentina de Avio-nes (located in Córdoba) was founded in 1927 and has manufactured over

PARAGUAY PERU GUYANA MEXICO

1,300 aircraft of various types—including the excellent Pucara and Pampa— and today employs about 1,000 local workers, down from 9,000. Today, the Argentine government wants to resuscitate that capacity, and there may be a niche market for light multiple-use transport helicopters in South America, in addition to sales within Argentina.

In October 2011, Argentina announced an agreement with the China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation to produce the CZ-W11 ultra-light helicopter. Apparently, a minimum production run of 40 will be necessary to make it economically feasible. The CZ-W11 is a reverse engineered version (with minor changes) of the Eurocopter AS 35OB Ecureil helicopter. A similar version of the latter, the Ecureil 2, is being co-produced by Eurocopter subsidiary Helibras in Brazil.

DORLING KINDERSLEY/GET TY

Brazil is pushing hard on the technology transfer front to enhance both its civilian and military industry. Though there is no specific agreement with China on military technology transfer, the two countries have developed and launched three Earth resources satellites to benefit nations that do not have their own satellites to monitor natural resources, agricultural zones and urban development. Four more are planned. 4

Brazil makes 50 percent of the satellite components.
However, another effort at commercial collaboration
foundered. Brazil’s Embraer and Aviation Industry
of China agreed to jointly manufacture the midsize
ERJ-145 passenger jet in
Harbin. According to de-
fense analyst R. Evan El-
lis, Embraer viewed the
collaboration as neces-
sary to gain access to the
Chinese market, which
China resisted. The “rela-
tionship,” he added, “was
also soured by the percep-
tion within Embraer that
the Chinese had used
the partnership to steal
Embraer’s technology
to support their own air-
craft development.” 5

SOURCE: JANE’S DEFENSE WEEKLY REPOR TS

IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S.
HEMISPHERIC STRATEGY

U. S. officials are not publicly concerned about China’s military activities. Frank Mora, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, stated in 2009 that while the U.S. stands for transparency, China’s arms and technology transfers are standard in the international community, and that some of the equipment can help Latin American governments improve security and counter drug trafficking.

Henry Kissinger, in his latest book, On China, calls for the new U. S. relationship with China to be built on strategic trust. The same advice applies to thinking about the evolving ties between China and Latin America.

Gabriel Marcella is adjunct professor at the U.S. Army War College, where he previously served as director of the Americas Studies. He has written extensively on Latin American security.