Just months after being acquired from General Dynamics, the triple-barrel, .50-caliber guns broke
 down and could not be used in the Black Hawk helicopters.

 BY KEN GUGGENHEIM
 Associated Press

 WASHINGTON -- Four powerful machine guns the State Department reluctantly
 bought for drug-fighting helicopters in Colombia were pulled from service after they
 repeatedly malfunctioned and threw the aircraft off-balance. The U.S. Embassy
 calls the weapons a ``big disappointment.''

 The Gau-19 Gatling guns, which the administration bought for a total of $2.1
 million at the urging of key Republicans and Colombian police, are so expensive
 to operate they threaten to ``eat up our budget . . . faster than it could possibly
 chew up narco-terrorists,'' an embassy cable complained to the State Department
 last month.

 In addition, the weapons are ``temperamental'' and so heavy they ``can tip the
 aircraft dangerously forward,'' said the cable that laid out problems with the
 weapons. The cable was obtained by The Associated Press.

 Just months after being acquired from General Dynamics, the triple-barrel,
 .50-caliber guns were broken down and could not be used in the Black Hawk
 helicopters the United States provided to Colombia. The helicopters are used to
 transport Colombian antinarcotics police, who often face fire from heavily armed
 leftist guerrillas who protect cocaine laboratories and coca fields.

 General Dynamics spokesman Kendell Pease said the guns would be fixed
 quickly, based on the findings of a team the company sent to Colombia this
 week.

 The staffs of two key House Republican chairmen, who pressed the
 administration to buy the guns, suggested the problems likely stem from faulty
 installation and misuse.

 Aides to Reps. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., and Dan Burton, R-Ind., said the
 Gau-19's rapid fire and large rounds are needed to penetrate Colombia's dense
 jungle.

 ``The other weapons tend to be just noisemakers that scare the crows away,''
 said John Mackey, an aide to Gilman, chairman of the House International
 Relations Committee.

 Gilman and Burton, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, have
 been the main advocates of the weapons and are urging that more be bought.

 The two have criticized Clinton administration efforts in Colombia, accusing the
 State Department of trying to foist unsafe, outdated equipment on the Colombian
 National Police.

 The questions about the Gau-19s come as the Clinton administration is
 considering what weapons to buy for 60 helicopters -- Black Hawks and Hueys --
 included in a new $1.3 billion U.S. aid package to Colombia.

 State Department officials said the Gau-19 problems haven't been a major
 setback to counternarcotics efforts because the helicopters have been using other
 weapons.

 The U.S. Embassy's Narcotics Affairs Section in Bogota originally opposed the
 purchase of the Gau-19s because it didn't want ``to be the guinea pig'' for what the
 cable described as an ``unproven item.''

 The State Department, however, acquiesced to the wishes of the Colombian
 police and congressional staffers, said a senior department official who spoke on
 condition of anonymity.

 The Black Hawks were altered to accommodate the Gau-19 at an added cost of
 $541,000. Those alterations were approved by the helicopters' manufacturer,
 Sikorski Aircraft Corp.

 The embassy cable said the weight of the guns and ammunition leaves the
 helicopters off balance and the guns' electric control boxes frequently burned out.

 In addition, their 2,000-round-per-minute fire rate made them ``incredibly
 expensive'' given that the .50-caliber ammunition can cost up to $4 a round, the
 cable said.

 Mackey said the expense is justified given the value of the helicopters they
 protect.

 ``How would you ever explain it if a $15 million piece of equipment is shot down
 and a Colombian crew is killed because you don't have the right weapons
 system?'' he said.