When we spoke to one of the two CEO’s in the Ministry OF National security this weekend, he made a quite remarkable declaration: that the BDF Airwing did have Night Vision Goggles. As we have reported, the BDF’s Huey helicopter crashed almost three weeks ago and its crew of four all died. The cause of the crash was pilot error, and one of the issues was that they were flying at night without night vision capability. That includes night vision goggles - which the BDF Commander said was in his list of requirements sent to the Ministry. But the CEO told us, it’s there, along with other stuff:..
Jules Vasquez- Reporter
"Certainly you have been there long enough to receive the annual requirements, slash requests from the BDF. Would you say how many times you have seen on this list of requests NVG night vision equipment?"
George Lovell- CEO, Ministry of National Security
"I can't say right off the bat but I can say that while it is that the Belize Defense Force or any of our uniformed services does not have sufficient equipment to have the entire department or force deployed in any one go to the scale that in the military term a war time scale. We do have sufficient information for selective missions to have everybody fully equipped to carry out those missions."
Jules Vasquez
"So, then, speak specifically to the issue of night vision equipment in view of what has happened."
George Lovell
"I'm quite certain that the Belize Defense Force has night vision equipment."
Jules Vasquez
"But then it wasn't used on that..."
George Lovell
"That's a different issue. I don't know. That's an operation issue that the commander and those people would have."
Jules Vasquez
"But as CEO can you say that you have seen it as a request and that it has been fulfilled?"
George Lovell
"I am telling you that they do have NVG's in the BDF and they do have radios too. They have radios, they have night vision, they have weapons, they have ammunition, they have all these things."
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