Office of the Historian

151. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter1

Washington, July 31, 1979

SUBJECT

  • Daily Report

Information

[Omitted here is material unrelated to India.]

First Jaguars to India: New Delhi was scheduled to receive two British-French Jaguar ground-attack aircraft last week, part of a $1.7 billion deal that includes 40 Jaguars plus the material to assemble 110 more in India.2 The British are to begin delivering the rest of the planes at the end of the year. Although this is the largest single arms deal in India’s history, the USSR will remain India’s primary supplier of military materiel. Some Indian officers, in fact, reportedly are lobbying to cancel the assembly rights to the Jaguar in favor of the Soviet MIG–23. Nevertheless, the Jaguars would do much to improve the capabilities of the Indian Air Force. (S)

French-Indian Discussions on Nuclear Matters: French officials told former Indian Foreign Minister Vajpayee during his recent visit that France wants to increase nuclear cooperation with India, according to a fairly reliable clandestine Indian source. The French promised to supply highly enriched uranium for the Kalkappan nuclear power plant in Madras and offered to sell India a nuclear power plant and help set up more fast breeder nuclear reactors. (S)

Another clandestine source reported that French leaders also assured Vajpayee they would be more careful in future nuclear deals with Pakistan and said they would attempt to discover more about Pakistan’s clandestine acquisition of nuclear equipment in Europe. (S)

[Omitted here is material unrelated to India.]

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, President’s Daily CIA Brief File, Box 21, 7/24/79–7/31/79. Secret; Sensitive. Printed from an uninitialed copy. Carter initialed at the top of the memorandum.↩
  2. See footnote 3, Document 141.↩