Connecticut Post March 7, 2005
Europe may sell copters to Iran, China
Air show attendance suggests courting of U.S. adversaries
By Peter Urban
WASHINGTON Connecticut lawmakers, who recently saw the Marine One helicopter contract go to an Anglo-Italian rival, are steamed that European aerospace contractors are looking to do business in Iran and China.
Some of Europe's largest aerospace contractors, including the Italian conglomerate behind the AgustaWestland EH-101, attended a recent air show in Kish, Iran, hoping to do business with the U.S. adversary.
NBC News recently aired a report on the air show, held on the island of Kish, where mullahs mixed with Ukrainian generals amid photos of Ayatollah Khomeini.
While it is generally illegal for American companies to do business with Iran, NBC News found more than a dozen European defense and aviation firms eager to fill the void.
I regret it. I don't like it. It sends a message to Iran that they can behave as they want, said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. They are still the largest sponsors of terrorism. It is a message that doesn't help.
A spokeswoman for AgustaWestland in the United States said that the company was not involved in the air show and has not sold anything to Iran in the last 20 years.
The air show was held at a time of growing White House concern that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon.
The Bush administration wants European allies to guarantee they will back punitive measures against Iran if diplomatic talks do not result in an agreement by Iran to permanently abandon any ambitions of developing a nuclear weapon.
Meanwhile, the administration has signaled a willingness to offer carrots to Iran as well, including allowing Iran to purchase spare parts for its aging commercial aircraft.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that the president remains skeptical that Iran will give up its nuclear weapons ambitions but is looking for ways to work with European allies seeking a diplomatic solution.
We want to do our part to support the European efforts, McClellan said. This is about strengthening their diplomatic approach to resolving this matter.
Lieberman said the United States has to be tough about insisting that European allies agree to offer Iran sticks as well as carrots.
Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, plans to request a hearing to consider a whole range of issues relative to the transfer of technology and jobs to foreign companies that deal with the enemy.
I am fuming that people co-producing military equipment are selling to our enemies. It just drives me crazy, Simmons said. This company is building the American president's helicopter and they are looking to trade to our enemy.
According to the NBC report, Finmeccanica, the Italiancorporation that ownsAgustaWestland, was in Kish showing off its helicopters to Iran.
But the corporation's policy clearly forbids its companies, subsidiaries or representatives from selling military systems in Iran, said Gino Colangelo, executive vice president of the DePlano Group in New York, which represents the Italian aerospace company.
Finmeccanica won't sell any helicopter or helicopter system to Iran. We are good partners of the United States. Absolutely, Colangelo said.
The Navy recently awarded the presidential helicopter contract to a team led by Lockheed Martin that is offering a version of the EH-101 for Marine One.
Sikorsky Aircraft of Stratford, Conn., which has been the exclusive manufacturer of U.S. presidential helicopters since 1957, lost the bid. Company officials declined to comment on the Iranian air show.
Simmons is convinced Finmeccanica wants to sell helicopters to Iran.
Why were they at the trade show? What are they selling, Hula Hoops? he said.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, was also incensed that the Marine One contract and accompanying U.S. tax dollars will go to a company that might sell that technology around the globe, even to U.S. adversaries.
So, the company building the gearbox [for Marine One] are the people peddling that technology to the enemies of the United States, DeLauro said. It should matter to the United States and the Department of Defense. We spend a lot of time talking about national security this is national security.
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, said he is deeply concerned that European companies are thinking about selling weapons to rogue nations.
It is very alarming that Europe would want to promote military sales with Iran when Iran is basically harboring terrorists, allowing al-Qaida to at least eat and sleep there, and they are considering expanding their nuclear program, Shays said. And it is particularly aggravating that AgustaWestland, which has won a contract to produce Marine One, is a player in the process.
Arms expert John Pike said the European companies are driven by greed.
I think that the Europeans would sell their grandmothers to the Iranians if they thought they could make a buck, said Pike, who is director of the nonprofit GlobalSecurity.org.
He said he was particularly put off by Finmeccanica's presence at the air show.
It's difficult to imagine the president flying around in the same helicopter the ayatollahs are flying in, Pike said. But, business is business.
Although the air show was for commercial ventures, Pike said that the NBC videos he reviewed clearly showed military helicopters and other equipment on display.
It certainly left the impression that they were trying to whet the appetites of Iran's military, Pike said.
Pike is pessimistic about the success of diplomatic negotiations with Iran. He presumes the United States will launch a military strike if Iran pursues nuclear equipment.
I assume that we are going to bomb them, he said. So, the notion that AgustaWestland would like to supply both sides of the war is difficult to understand as an American.
Similarly, Pike is concerned with Europe lifting an arms embargo imposed on China after its bloody silencing of student protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
When the United States sits down to think about what a big war would look like, they generally draw in China as the enemy, he said.
The House of Representatives recently voted 411 to 3 in favor of a resolution warning Europe against lifting the arms embargo because it would endanger Taiwan and U.S. troops stationed in Asia.
The resolution, which the entire Connecticut delegation supported, also deplored the steady increase in arms sales to China. From 2002 to 2003, the value of reported arms sales from France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom has doubled to about $540 million.
President Bush said the Europeans are working on a way to address the issues raised by Congress.
They know the Congress is concerned, Bush said, and so they'll try to develop a plan that will ease concerns. Now, whether they can or not, we'll see. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said last week the European Union could drop the embargo within six months. The EU decided in December against lifting the embargo immediately, but the proposal is still under discussion, according to the Associated Press.
Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., said that a unilateral lifting of the embargo would have serious consequences for American and European relations.
This is a potential hand grenade in the globalization works, he said. It could disrupt cooperation on the Joint Strike Force and all the big efforts of EADS [European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.] and others to get into the U.S. market.
Aboulafia said that money is driving Europe to lift the embargo. The European arguments [to lift the embargo] are extremely spurious. It's based on very little else than greed, he said.
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