Ángel Páez, "PERU: No crisis for arms purchases," IPS, January 9, 2009.

LIMA, Jan 9 (IPS) - The global economic crisis apparently has not affected the Peruvian government’s plan to modernise the armed forces, which is to cost 650 million dollars from here to 2011.

The Peruvian army recently signed a 25 million dollar contract with Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport for 244 Kornet long-range anti-tank missiles to replace the Soviet-made Malyutka missiles acquired by Peru’s military dictatorship in the 1970s.

Defence Ministry and army sources confirmed to IPS that a 48 million dollar purchase of another 244 Spike long-range anti-tank missiles, super-modern weapons manufactured by the Israel-based Rafael Advanced Systems, has also been approved, but not signed.

But the army’s decision to purchase two different kinds of the same weapon, the Russian-made Kornet and the Israeli Spike -- the second of which costs nearly double -- drew the attention of the Comptroller General’s Office.

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