US BUILDS UP ARMS ARSENAL IN VIETNAM

Still in a state of shock at the North Vietnamese offensive successes the Nixon administration is planning to ship still more planes, guns and tanks to its beleagured puppets in Saigon.

High-ranking officials in the Defence Department in Washington, where these plans are being elaborated, say serious consideration is being given to providing South Vietnam . with higher performance jet aircraft as well as quantities of better tanks and long-range artillery.

They admit that President Nixon's 'Vietnamization' programme begun three years ago was not designed to withstand the tank and artillery supported offensives carried out by the liberation forces since March 30.

A senior general told the 'New York Times': 'The nature of the North Vietnamese offensive has forced us to make some modifications in our long-range plans to enable South Vietnam to defend it'Some decisions have been made; others still have to be worked out.' According to Nixon the 'Vietnamization' scheme was justified because South Vietnam was now strong : enough o stand on its own feet This myth was destroyed in the first weeks of the liberation offensive when whole divisions of puppet troops simply turned and ran at the first shock of the battle.

That was how, for example, the Saigon forces lost Quang heavy losses in their forking They still taking regain control of the town.

Until noW the Americans have been reluctant to supply their puppets with the most advanced weapons in their stockpiles. These weapons are more costly, need more training to operate and the South Vietnamese cannot be trusted to prevent them falling into the hands of the liberation forces.

Instead, the US has relied on its air superiority to hold the line while the South Vietnamese get along as best they can on the ground.

The planned l aid to Saigor is convincing evidence that the failed. As in the past, policYixon's 'Vietnamization' only 'solution is more of the same: more weapons, more bombs, more shells.

For example, army authorities in Washington are planing to add two battalions of M-48 tanks about 100 vehicles to the single battalion now operating in South Vietnam.

A third battalion of about 12 long-range 175-mm guns is to be added to the two already in the South Vietnamese army. This step is made necessary by the superiority of the liberation troops' heavy artillery which has taken a big toll of the puppet armies.

The plans also involve trip. ling the number of advanced F.52 fighter planes planned for the South Vietnamese air force, making three squadrons instead of the one originally planned.

The US is also considering the possibility of adding longerrange jet fighter-bomberseither F-4 Phantoms, A-7 Skyhawks or A-7 Corsairs-to the Top: heavy artillery of the Vietnamese liberation forces in operation during the April offensive this year. Saigon air force.

The • South Vietnamese have only six squadrons of relatively obsolescent fighter-bombers, totalling about 100 planes.

These include two squadrons of propellor-driven A-1 Skyraiders; three squadrons of A-37s, a modified jet trainer, and one squadron of F-5As. In addition it has 34 modified transport planes equipped with rapid-fire machine guns for 'zapping' anything that moves on the ground.

Over the next two years or so, if the planes are put into operation, the fighter forces will be doubled to nearly 200 planes.

By contrast with the South Vietnamese Air Force, the US has more than 1,000 fighterbombers and B-52 heavy bombers involved in the present campaign.

Since the end of March the US Air Force strength in Indo-China has been considerably increased, with planes brought from as far away as