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64     HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM

  Mr. HALL. Mr. Chairman, I will be glad to read the first page or two of my statement, and let the balance go in the record, if that is all right.
  Senator LAUSCHE. Yes.
  Mr.HALL. Mr. Chairman, I am here this afternoon to respond to the committee's request for a statement of the agency's views on its past experience with the use of helicopters in assisting developing countries, and its views on the potential use of V/STOL-type aircraft in assisting such countries in the future. I have with me Mr. Frank Loy, who is our consultant on aviation problems.
  I think AID's position can be summarized as follows:
  (a) A very large portion of AID's effort and financial help goes toward improving the transportation systems of the developing countries. Any technological development which promises to make such transportation assistance more useful or less costly is of great interest of AID.
  (b) Up to the present, AID has made little use of the helicopter. Helicopters are a very special-purpose vehicle. Present helicopters, and particularly the large transport helicopters, when compared to fixed-wing aircraft are expensive to buy, are costly and difficult to operate and maintain.
  The one developing country in which the transport helicopter has been extensively used is Pakistan, and I will discuss in a moment AID's relationship to the Pakistan helicopter operation.
  (c) While it is quite likely that AID will utilize helicopters or STOL-type aircraft from time to time in solving a particular transport problem, we thing it unlikely that V/STOL aircraft will become a major factor in AID's transport assistance program.
  This conclusion would be modified somewhat if the negative factors of the helicopter mentioned before-the difficulty of maintenance and operation and the high cost-were significantly bettered by subsequent technological developments.
  (d) Small helicopters (as distinguished from the larger helicopters used for transport purposes) can be very useful to developing countried in doing nontransport work such as police patrols, agricultural work, surveying, and so forth. AID has helped some countries acquire a few such aircraft in the past, and probably will continue to do so.
  I would like to elaborate on these points.
  The development of a transport system, together with the development of communications systems and power supply, is central to AID's task of helping developing countries establish a sounder economic base.
  Consequently, a large percentage of AID's capital assistance, in the neighborhood of 35 percent, has been expended in the general area of transportation.
  It is worth noting that when the United States was in its development stage it also spent a large portion of its income on transport facilities.
  The transport needs of developing countries obviously vary a great deal. One of the principal needs is to develop links between the agricultural and raw material producing areas and the population centers, if any, and the harbors or other places from which any exports take place.