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Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. (UTC) may have the lowest profile of any arms exporter. That's because its five major divisions have a lot more brand recognition than the parent company. On the military side, the $25 billion company makes Sikorsky helicopters and Pratt & Whitney engines, accounting for 42 percent of its annual sales; also in the portfolio are Carrier air conditioners, Otis elevators and escalators, and United Technologies Automotive. Both Sikorsky and P&W are leaders in their respective fields; Sikorsky is a particularly aggressive helicopter exporter, enough so that 23 countries "from the Middle East to the Far East" (according to the Associated Press) own something from the Sikorsky catalog. This includes the CH-53E Super Stallion, UH-60 A/L/P and S-70 generation of Black Hawks, MH-53E Sea Dragon, HH-60H and HHY-60J Jayhawk, and the HH-3 E transport helicopter. The Black Hawks are a particularly hot Sikorsky export item: Major recent buyers of the attack S-70 line include Mexico, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brazil, while utility Black Hawks have gone to Egypt, Jordan, Colombia, Israel, Kuwait, and South Korea. Pratt & Whitney is among the world's three big makers of jet engines. This lucrative niche leads mostly to subcontractor roles for other companies' planes, but countries around the world also buy the engines directly, and such spare parts also enjoy a vigorous third-party resale market. Half of UTC's annual sales are foreign, a feat that is often accomplished through forming joint ventures. Such is the case in the August 1998 $500 million deal with Turkey: That country's defense industry executive committee decided to buy 50 S-70 Black Hawks on the condition of joint-venture talks underway. The new helicopters would be co-produced by Akinci-based Tusas Aerospace Industries; during their construction, Turkey will lease 10 to 15 Black Hawks and buy two off the lot. Such terms undercut the arms exporters' argument against human rights or security limitations on sales: the view that weapons manufacturing creates U.S. jobs. But UTC, like many defense companies, is well connected enough that it doesn't have to worry too much about noise from labor: Former Defense Secretary William Perry now sits on the company's board. For the period January 1997 to June 1998, UTC's PAC gave over $200,000 to the Democratic and Republican parties (tilting by a 5-to-3 ratio in favor of Republicans). And yes, there's a Ron Brown connection: UTC President and CEO George David went on a junket to Ireland with the former commerce secretary in December 1994, having given $32,250 to the Democrats in that election cycle and $50,300 in the previous one. Accounts of deals such as the Turkey sale rarely mention how the helicopters will be used. Our NATO ally has waged open war against Kurdish nationalists for years -- while the U.S. claims to support Kurdish nationalist aspirations on the Iraqi side of the border. Turkey's military government stands accused of widespread, systematic human-rights abuses, and UTC's helicopters may well become players in this internecine bloodshed. The same is true in Colombia, where Sikorsky and Bell Helicopter Textron have eagerly awaited a comprehensive bill that would increase funding for the War on Drugs. The legislation, which passed the House and is now in a Senate committee, could mean Colombia would get $150 million in helicopters -- six new Black Hawks as well as upgrades for 50 Huey IIs. Those choppers will be put to work by a government that's in the middle of a bloody war with leftist guerrillas and endures massacres by right-wing paramilitaries. But with enough money and influence flowing from the exporter, such concerns seldom make it to Congress. -- Geov Parrish | | |||||||||||||
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