RUSSIA LOOKS TO LATIN AMERICAN ARMS MARKET

. A giant "Ruslan" An-124 transport delivered two Mi-17 military helicopters to Bogota, Colombia yesterday. The pair are the first of 10 Mi-17s purchased by Colombia last year in a deal that was hailed as a Russian breakthrough into the Latin American arms market. Also yesterday, an official of the Central Institute of Aerohydrodynamics (TsAFI) in Moscow revealed that Sukhoi had last month won a contract to supply eight Su-29 turbo-prop training planes to the Argentinean air force. The first pair will be delivered in May. Clearly, the Russians want to build on these successes. On April 15 Vladimir Vypryazhkin, deputy general director of the state-run arms export company Rosvooruzhenie, chided the U.S. for thinking of selling what he called outdated F-16 or F-18 fighters to Chile. Russia, he said, was prepared to offer Chile "state-of-the-art" Su-27 and Su-39 jets. He predicted that, in the long run, Russia and the U.S. would have equal shares of the Latin American arms market. (Interfax, April 16 & 17; Itar-Tass, April 17)

Russians Test ICBM from Kazakstan Base.