BRITAIN OKS SALE OF MISSILES TO AID CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130008-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: February 28, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130008-4
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Britain OI~-
Saie of ~1[issiles
to Aid Contras
LOS ANGELES TIMES
28 February 1987
.T By DOYLE McMANUS,
Times Staff} Writer
WASHINGTON-Prime Minis-
ter Mazgaret Thatcher's govern-
ment has given preliminary ap-
proval to the sale of British-made
"Blowpipe" anti-aircraft missiles
for use by the Nicaraguan rebels,
knowledgeable sources said Fri-
day.
The sale, which stems partly
from an earlier deal negotiated by
fired White House aide Oliver L.
North and retired Maj. Gen. Rich-
ard V. Secord, would mark the first
known British sale of weapons to
aid the contras, U.S. officials said.
At lg~~`+~ ~f the fo~r_foot-long
missiles and 30 shoulder-held
launchers would be inc-I>~e~n the
s e, w c s must a approved
b~-L2f~-CfA;Zt_i e
agenc- y wo ]3 pay~or t~ missiles
from the 5100-million U.S. aid fund
for the contras, they said. The price
for the missiles could not be deter-
~nined.
The contras want the Blowpipe,
in anti-aircraft missile with a
?ange of four miles, to shoot down
the Sandinista government's Sovi-
et-supplied attack helicopters.
"It's an !deal anti=aircraft wPan_
on for the contras," one source said.
"I~ s ven better, for them, than the
Stinger," the_ ~so_~histicated U.S.-
made sho-Tu ed r-held missile that
the CIA has t`urnisll~dSQ ~e_bels in
Afghanistan and Angola,
Contra leader Adolfo Calero con-
firmed that his army was hoping to
obtain Blowpipes, but said the deal
had not been concluded yet. "We
have not gotten any," he said
recently.
"W~hav h 6 cic g~nrnval Of
the British government," another
source Say sup o e aRenc_v
[CIA] to approve it now."
In London. the British Kovern-
ment said it had sold no Blowpipes
to Nort or ecor , ut ec
comment on the re ort that it was
prepared'to sell the missiles tot e
CIA for the conti?as'~use. --
The contras have been attempt-
ing to obtain the Blowpipe since at
least March, 1986, according to
National Security Council docu-
ments released this week by the
Tower Commission on the Iranian
arms scandal.
"We are trying to find a way to
get 10 Blowpipe launchers and 20
missiles from [a South American
country whose name was deleted
from the report] through the Short
Bros. representative," North wrote
to former National Security Advis-
er Robert C. McFazlane on Mazch
26. 1986. "Short Bros., the manu-
facturer of the Blowpipe, is willing
to arrange the deal, conduct the
training and even send U.K. 'tech
reps' [British technical representa-
tives] if we can close the arrange-
ment. Dick Secord has already paid
10% down on the delivery and we
have a [country deleted] end user
certificate which is acceptable to
[the South American country]."
Country Not Bnown
It could not be immediately de-
termined which South American
country had agreed to sell the
missiles to Secord. Argentina, Chile
and Ecuador all use Blowpipes for
air defense, according to the Inter-
national Institute for Strategic
Studies.
Such a sale would normally have
required both an "end user certifi-
cate" from another government,
certifying that it was going to use
the missiles for its armed forces,
and a re-export license from the
British. Secord and the contras
frequently obtained end user cer-
tificates from the governments of
Guatemala and Honduras.
The South American deal appaz-
ently foundered when the British
government refused to issue a
license for the Blowpipes' resale.
The British Ministry of Defense
said Friday: "We issued no such
license in the context as mentioned
in the Tower Commission report."
North appeazs to have proposed
that President Reagan write to
Prime Minister Thatcher to seek a
reversal of the decision, according
to the commission report.
In a memorandum to then-Na-
tional Security Adviser John M.
Poindexter in June, North said:
"We should look to going back to
the head of an allied government
on the blowpipes if we are going to
do anything at all about outside
support [for the contras] in the next
few days, and I [would] love to
carry the letter from RR."
Most Effective
Thatcher's government has tak-
en no strong stand on the issue of
Nicaragua,Valthough the prime
minister has given general support
to President Reagan's avowed goal
of oppoosing Soviet-sponsored re-
gimes around the world.
Contra officials have said they
want the Blowpipe as a portable.
easy-to-use defense against the
Soviets' Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicop-
ters, which have become the San-
dinista government's most effec-
tive weapons against the guerrillas.
The rebels initially wanted the
U.S.-made Stinger. But Congress,
fearful that the Stingers could fall
into the hands of terrorists, indicat-
ed that it would block any such
sale.
Some contra officers, moreover,
azgued that the simpler Blowpipe
was more suited to their guerrilla
troops than the complex Stinger.
The contras have been using Sovi-
et-made SA-7 anti-aircraft mis-
siles, but they have proven difficult
to maintain in tropical humidity,
they said.
Nevertheless, contra officials re-
ported shooting down a Sandinista
helicopter on Friday with an SA-?.
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, a
spokesman for Short Bros. said:
"We make no comment at all on
who is or is not a customer for our
missiles. We don't discuss it."
Staff writer Tybr INsrshsil in
London contributed to thb story.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130008-4