‘I think we cannot refuse the order’: Britain, America, nuclear non-proliferation, and the Indian Jaguar deal, 1974–1978

Abstract

This article sheds light on the way in which British negotiations with India over the potential purchase of the Jaguar strike aircraft during the 1970s complicated global nuclear non-proliferation diplomacy. It argues that this case demonstrates British unwillingness to subordinate the economic well-being of the state to the requirements of non-proliferation diplomacy, even under pressure from the US government. Despite internal and external criticism (most notably from the administration of President Jimmy Carter) of the sale focusing on non-proliferation, it was the economic contentions of internal supporters arguing against a background of fiscal crisis that eventually won the day. Through analysis of this overlooked incident, this article adds to the complexity of nuclear non-proliferation history in the 1970s, offering an example of the interactions between the domestic priorities and the non-proliferation policy of an outwardly ‘leading’ anti-proliferationist state.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those who have given feedback on various versions of this article, in particular Pertti Ahonen, Frank Cogliano, Owen Dudley-Edwards, Fabian Hilfrich, Frances Houghton, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, David Kaufman, Robert Mason, Mark McLay, and Andrew Preston, all of whom offered invaluable comments that helped to strengthen this piece. I have also been very appreciative of the opportunities to gain further feedback from the University of Edinburgh American History Workshop and Centre for the Study of Modern Conflict seminar, the Historians of the Twentieth Century United States (HOTCUS) conference and the Scottish Association for the Study of America (SASA) conference.

Notes

¹ Dales to Wright, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India,’ 9 June 1975, The National Archives of the UK (hereafter TNA) Records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (hereafter FCO) 37/1627.

² In 1977, BAC was consolidated with Hawker Siddeley and Scottish Aviation to become British Aerospace (BAe) as the government nationalised the aircraft and shipbuilding industries.

³ Jim Tomlinson, ‘Economic Policy,’ in The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain, ed. Roderick Floud and Paul Johnson (Cambridge University Press, 2004), 191; Jeffrey A. Engel, Cold War at 30,000 Feet: The Anglo-American Fight for Aviation Supremacy (Harvard University Press, 2007), 11.

⁴ See, for example, Frank Cain, Economic Statecraft During the Cold War (Routledge, 2007); Alan P. Dobson, The Politics of the Anglo-American Economic Special Relationship 1940-1987 (Wheatsheaf Books, 1988); Engel, Cold War at 30,000 Feet; Christopher Hull, ‘Our Arms in Havana: British Military Sales to Batista and Castro, 1958-59,’ Diplomacy and Statecraft, 18, no. 3 (September 2007): 593-616 and ‘“Going to War in Buses”: The Anglo-American Clash over Leyland Sales to Cuba, 1963-1964,’ Diplomatic History, 34, no. 5 (November 2010): 793-822.

⁵ Paul McGarr, The Cold War in South Asia: Britain, the United States, and the Indian Subcontinent, 1945-1965 (Cambridge University Press, 2013), 351.

⁶ Mark Phythian, The Politics of British Arms Sales Since 1964 (Manchester University Press, 2000), 130-131.

⁷ See Malcolm Craig, ‘The United Kingdom, the United States, and Nuclear Proliferation in South Asia: The Case of Pakistan, 1974-1980’ (University of Edinburgh; PhD Diss., 2014).

⁸ William Burr, ‘A “Scheme of Control”: The United States and the Origins of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, 1974-76’, The International History Review, 36, no. 2 (2014): 252-276.

⁹ Dennis Kux, Disenchanted Allies: The United States and Pakistan, 1947-2000 (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2001), 215-255.

¹⁰ Alan P. Dobson, US Economic Statecraft for Survival, 1933-1991 (Routledge, 2002), 1-2.

¹¹ Ibid, 3.

¹² See for example the cited works by Cain, Dobson, Engel, and Phythian.

¹³ Michael Hornsby, ‘Critics of India's “peaceful” atomic device test say it is one step towards a bomb,’ The Times, 20 May, 1974, 7.

¹⁴ Michael J. Brenner, Nuclear Power and Non-proliferation: The Remaking of U.S Policy (Cambridge University Press, 1981), 64.

¹⁵ Samina Ahmed, ‘Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Program: Turning Points and Nuclear Choices,’ International Security, 23, no. 4 (Spring, 1999): 183-184.

¹⁶ ‘Memorandum of Conversation, Energy; North Sea Oil; Foreign Assistance; Nuclear Non-Proliferation; CSCE; Trade Bill,’ 7 July 1974, Wilson Center Digital Archive, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/119774 (accessed on 25 October 2014).

¹⁷ Prior to 1974, non-proliferation was absent from discussions about the Jaguar deal. None of the relevant files mention nuclear issues.

¹⁸ Harold Wilson, Final Term: The Labour Government, 1974-1976 (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1979), 13. The 1970s were a lean time for Britain’s aerospace industry, having been a successful exporter for the previous two decades. Manufacturers found themselves in a position where potential purchasers would not consider replacing their equipment until the 1980s. See Phythian, The Politics of British Arms Sales Since 1964, 19.

¹⁹ Phythian, The Politics of British Arms Sales Since 1964, 130.

²⁰ Seaward to Wilford, ‘Implications of the Indian Nuclear Test’, 29 May 1974, TNA FCO66/654.

²¹ Cary to Brimelow, ‘Relations With India’, 10 June 1974, TNA FCO66/655, 2.

²² Brimelow to Cary, ‘Relations With India’, 13 June 1974, TNA FCO66/655, 2.

²³ Summerhayes to Thomson et al, ‘Indian Nuclear Test’, 13 June 1974, TNA FCO66/655, 3.

²⁴ Thomson, attachment to: Summerhayes to Thomson et al, ‘Indian Nuclear Test’, 13 June 1974, TNA FCO66/655.

²⁵ Walker to Cary, ‘Corvettes and Jaguars for India’, 16 August 1974, TNA FCO66/658, 2-3

²⁶ Chalmers to Male, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 20 August 1974, TNA FCO66/658, 1.

²⁷ Benn to Callaghan, Letter, 8 August, 1974, TNA FCO66/657.

²⁸ ‘Brief for Meeting of PUS With Indian Defence Secretary Mr Govind Narain’, 5 June 1974, TNA, Records Created or Inherited by HM Treasury (hereafter T) 362/53, 3.

²⁹ Rich to Boothroyd, ‘India: Defence Sales’, 5 June, 1974, TNA T362/53; Rich to Kelley, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 13 August 1974, TNA T362/53.

³⁰ Healy to Callaghan, ‘Jaguar Sales to India’, 6 September 1974, TNA T362/53.

³¹ Callaghan to Benn, ‘Jaguar Sales to India,’ Letter, 23 August 1974, TNA FCO66/658, 1; Mason to Benn, Letter, 2 September 1974, TNA FCO66/658.

³² ACDD Brief, ‘OPD (Official) Committee Meeting: 2.30pm. 15 October 1974; Defence Sales to India,’ 14 October 1974, TNA FCO66/659, 1-2.

³³ Defence and Oversea Policy (Official) Committee, Sub-committee on Strategic Exports (hereafter OPDO-SE), ‘Credit for Sale of Defence Equipment to India’, 15 October 1974, TNA Records of the Cabinet Office (hereafter CAB) 148/152, 2.

³⁴ Brimelow to Heads of Department et al, ‘British Policy Towards India’, 4 November 1974, TNA FCO66/660, 9.

³⁵ Ibid.

³⁶ Engel, Cold War at 30,000 Feet, 298.

³⁷ OPDO-SE, ‘Credit for Export of Defence Equipment to India’, 8 November 1974, TNA CAB148/152, 2-4.

³⁸ Bridges to Dales, ‘Pakistan’, 18 September,1974, TNA FCO66/664; Thomson to Edmonds, ‘Pakistan’, 25 October 1974, TNA FCO66/664.

³⁹ ‘Talks In State Department, October 2’, 11 October 1974, TNA FCO66/660, 3.

⁴⁰ Dales to Bridges, ‘Defence Sales to Pakistan’, 11 September 1974, TNA FCO66/664, 1-2.

⁴¹ OPDO-SE, ‘Credit for Export of Defence Equipment to India’, 6 December 1974, TNA CAB148/152, 3.

⁴² Kux, Disenchanted Allies, 217-219.

⁴³ ‘Pakistan and the Non-proliferation Issue,’ 22 January 1975, The National Security Archive ‘Nuclear Vault’, Electronic Briefing Book 6, www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB6/docs/doc20.pdf (accessed on 9 September 2014), Doc.20; Kux, Disenchanted Allies, 218.

⁴⁴ National Security Decision Memorandum 289, ‘US Military Supply Policy to Pakistan and India’, 24 March 1975, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser Files, Study Memoranda and Decision Memoranda, Box 1, 1.

⁴⁵ Thomson to Walker, ‘Non-proliferation and the Indian Nuclear Explosion’, 6 August 1974, TNA FCO66/657, 1.

⁴⁶ William Rodgers, House of Commons Debate, ‘Jaguar Aircraft’, 23 January 1975, Hansard Online http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1975/jan/23/jaguar-aircraft (accessed on 7 March 2013).

⁴⁷ Hunt to Wilson, ‘Credit for Export of Defence Equipment to India’, 27 January 1975, TNA Records of the Prime Minister’s Office (hereafter PREM)16/1556.

⁴⁸ Ibid. Wilson approved Hunt’s recommendations in a marginal note.

⁴⁹ Defence and Oversea Policy Committee (hereafter OPD), ‘Minutes of a Meeting’, 28 January 1975, TNA CAB148/154, 3.

⁵⁰ Ennals to Rodgers, Letter, 11 March 1975, TNA FCO37/1626.

⁵¹ United Kingdom High Commission (hereafter UKHC) New Delhi to MoD, ‘Jaguar Sales’, 24 February 1975, TNA FCO37/1626; FCO to UKHC New Delhi, ‘Jaguar’, 17 February 1975, TNA FCO37/1626; Henry Stanhope, ‘Indian jet deal founders’, The Times, 7 March 1975, 8.

⁵² O’Neill to Wilford, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 5 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1627; Export Guarantees Committee, ‘Minutes of a Meeting of the Committee’, 13 June 1975, TNA T362/54, 1; France to Wright, Letter, 17 June 1975, TNA T362/54.

⁵³ O’Neill to Wilford, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India, Annex A’ 5 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1627.

⁵⁴ O’Neill to Richards, ‘Sale of Jaguar to India’, 28 May 1975, TNA FCO37/1626, 2. United States Embassy (hereafter USE) Stockholm to State, ‘Implications of SAAB-Scania Request to For U.S. Permission to Export Viggen to India’, 6 August 1976, US National Archives and Records Administration (hereafter NARA) Access to Archival Databases system (hereafter AAD), Diplomatic Records; Eric Arnett, ‘Nuclear Stability and Arms Sales to India: Implications for U.S. Policy’, Arms Control Today, 27, no. 5 (August 1997): 10.

⁵⁵ O’Neill to Wilford, 5 June 1975.

⁵⁶ Dean to Seaward & O’Neill, ‘Indian Air Force Capabilities’, 2 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1626.

⁵⁷ O’Neill to Wilford, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India, Annex B’, 5 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1627.

⁵⁸ Ibid.

⁵⁹ Maitland to Wilford, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 5 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1627.

⁶⁰ O’Neill to Wilford, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 5 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1627, 2.

⁶¹ O’Neill to Richards, ‘Sale of Jaguar to India’, 28 May 1975, TNA FCO37/1626, 2.

⁶² Dales to Private Secretary (Minister of State), ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 9 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1627.

⁶³ Dales to Wright, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 12 June 1975, TNA PREM 16/1556.

⁶⁴ Wright to Dales, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 16 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1627.

⁶⁵ O’Neill to Imray, ‘Sale of Jaguar to India’, 20 June, 1975 TNA FCO37/1627.

⁶⁶ O’Neill to Forster, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 18 June 1975, TNA FCO37/1627, 1.

⁶⁷ Thomson to Mason, ‘Credit for Export of Jaguars to India’, 8 October 1975, TNA FCO37/1628.

⁶⁸ Thomson to Mason, ‘Credit for Export of Jaguars to India’, 8 October 1975, TNA FCO37/1628.

⁶⁹ Rich to Burgner, ‘Credit for Export of Jaguar to India’, 30 September 1975, TNA T362/54.

⁷⁰ OPDO, ‘Credit for Export of Jaguar to India’, 25 September 1975, TNA CAB148/152.

⁷¹ OPDO-SE, ‘Minutes of a Meeting’, 30 September 1975, TNA CAB148/152.

⁷² OPD, ‘Minutes of a Meeting’, 9 October 1975, TNA CAB148/154, 3-4; OPD, ‘Minutes of a Meeting’, 28 October, 1975, TNA CAB148/154, 1-2.

⁷³ Shore to Wilson, ‘Jaguars for India’, 7 January 1976, TNA PREM16/1556.

⁷⁴ Shore to Wilson, ‘Jaguars for India’, 12 January 1976, TNA Records of the Board of Trade (hereafter BT) 333/86, 1.

⁷⁵ Ennals to Wilson, ‘Jaguars for India’, 16 January 1976, TNA PREM16/1556. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, arms buyers had discovered the benefits of playing the British and French off against each other. See Phythian, The Politics of British Arms Sales, 134, 238.

⁷⁶ FCO to UKE Islamabad, ‘Jaguars and India’, 6 May 1976, TNA FCO37/1791.

⁷⁷ See Scott Kaufman, Plans Unravelled: The Foreign Policy of the Carter Administration (Northern Illinois University Press, 2008), 11-17 for a sketch of Carter’s ideals as he prepared for the presidency. Carter also initiated the Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) talks with the USSR, aimed at curbing advanced weapon sales to the developing world.

⁷⁸ Carter, ‘Inaugural Address’, 20 January 1977, The American Presidency Project, Public Papers of the Presidents: Jimmy Carter, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=6575 (accessed on 16 July 2013).

⁷⁹ Andrew Preston, Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy (Anchor Books, 2012), 575.

⁸⁰ Betty Glad, An Outsider in the White House: Jimmy Carter, His Advisors, and the Making of American Foreign Policy (Cornell University Press, 2009), 281.

⁸¹ Kaufman, Plans Unraveled, 14-15.

⁸² Jimmy Carter, Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President (Collins, 1982), 215-216.

⁸³ Presidential Directive 13 (PD-13) established a policy of conventional arms sales restraint, stating, ‘[T]he United States will not be the first supplier to introduce into a region an advanced weapons system which creates a new or significantly higher combat capability.’ See Presidential Directive/NSC-13, ‘Conventional Arms Transfer Policy’, 13 May 1977, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library (hereafter JCPL), Presidential Directives-Presidential Review Memoranda, www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/pddirectives/pd13.pdf (accessed on 21 July 2013), 2.

⁸⁴ John Dumbrell, A Special Relationship: Anglo-American relations from the Cold War to Iraq, 2^nd edition (Palgrave MacMillan, 2006), 98; Dobson, The Politics of the Anglo-American Economic Special Relationship 1940-1987, 236-237.

⁸⁵ Joe McKinney and Alan P. Dobson, ‘The Anglo-American economic relationship: Special or not?,’ in Anglo-American Relations: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. Alan P. Dobson and Steve Marsh (London, 2013), 138-139.

⁸⁶ ‘Record of Conversation Between the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and the Indian Foreign Secretary’, 16 May 1977, TNA FCO73/272, 2.

⁸⁷ ‘Record of a Conversation Between the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and the Foreign Minister of India’, 10 June 1977, TNA FCO73/272, 3.

⁸⁸ OPD, ‘Minutes of a Meeting’, 4 July 1977, TNA CAB148/167/1, 9-13.

⁸⁹ Christopher Mallaby, interview by John Hutson, 17 December 1997, British Diplomatic Oral History Project, www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/collections/BDOHP/Mallaby.pdf (accessed on 10 July 2013), 11-12.

⁹⁰ David Owen, Time To Declare (Penguin, 1992), 336.

⁹¹ ‘Record of Conversation Between the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and Mr Cyrus Vance’, 1 April 1977, TNA FCO73/270, 3.

⁹² Pakenham to O’Neill, ‘Jaguars for India and Pakistan’, 6 October, 1977, TNA FCO37/1971.

⁹³ Cortazzi to O’Neill, ‘Call on US Ambassador in Islamabad’, 12 October 1977, TNA FCO96/728, 1.

⁹⁴ Vance to Carter, ‘Your Visit to India, November 27-29’, November 1977 (exact date unknown), JCPL, Remote Archives Capture system (hereafter RAC) NLC-10-16-5-24-2, 13-14.

⁹⁵ ‘Record of a Meeting Held at the State Department at 11.30 on 2 December 1977’, 6 December, 1977, TNA FCO96/728, 3.

⁹⁶ Cortazzi to FCO, ‘Arms Sales to Pakistan’, 31 May 1977, TNA Records of the Ministry of Defence (hereafter DEFE) 68/212; Cortazzi to FCO, ‘Arms Sales to South Asia’, 1 June 1977, TNA DEFE68/212.

⁹⁷ ‘Record of a Meeting’, 6 December 1977, 7-9.

⁹⁸ Murray to O’Neill, ‘Sales of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 20 December 1977, TNA FCO37/1971.

⁹⁹ Luard to Owen, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 20 December 1977, TNA FCO37/1971.

¹⁰⁰ O’Neill to Murray, ‘Sales of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 19 December 1977, TNA FCO37/1971, 2-4.

¹⁰¹ Wall to O’Neill, ‘Sale of Jaguar Aircraft to India’, 21 December 1977, TNA FCO37/1971.

¹⁰² USE London to State, ‘Indian Acquisition of Strike Aircraft’, 22 December 1977, NARA AAD, Diplomatic Records, 3; USE Islamabad to State, ‘Indian Acquisition of the Jaguar: Suggested Action’, 22 December 1977, NARA AAD, Diplomatic Records, 1; State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, ‘Analysis’, 31 December 1977, JCPL, RAC NLC-4-7-1-16-2, 1.

¹⁰³ USE Islamabad to State, 22 December 1977, 3.

¹⁰⁴ State to USE Cairo, ‘Material on President’s Trip’, 28 December 1977, NARA AAD, Diplomatic Records, 3.

¹⁰⁵ Vile to Cartledge, ‘Prime Minister’s Visit to Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, Annex A’, 19 December 1977, TNA PREM16/1308, 1.

¹⁰⁶ Hunt to Cartledge, Confidential Memo, 9 December 1977, TNA PREM16/1308.

¹⁰⁷ ‘Note of a Conversation Between the Prime Minister and Mr Morarji Desai’, 7 January 1978, TNA PREM16/1692, 2; ‘Record of a Meeting Between the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of India’, 7 January, 1978, TNA PREM16/1692, 4-5.

¹⁰⁸ Alston to White, ‘Pakistan Reprocessing Plant’, 3 July 1978, TNA FCO96/823.

¹⁰⁹ Ibid. The F-5 was a lightweight fighter aircraft, the offer of which the Pakistanis declined, still desiring the more capable A-7.

¹¹⁰ Cyrus Vance, Hard Choices: Critical Years In American Foreign Policy (Simon & Schuster, 1983), 262; UKHC New Delhi to FCO, ‘French Nuclear Reprocessing Plant in Pakistan’, 17 July 1978, TNA FCO96/823.

¹¹¹ ‘French Nuclear Reprocessing Plant in Pakistan’, 17 July 1978, TNA FCO96/823.

¹¹² United Kingdom Embassy (hereafter UKE) Islamabad to FCO, ‘French Nuclear Reprocessing Plant’, 17 July 1978, TNA FCO96/823, 1.

¹¹³ UKHC New Delhi to FCO, 17 July 1978, 1.

¹¹⁴ ‘Brief For Call by Indian Finance Minister on Prime Minister: 16/17 September 1978’, Undated, TNA PREM16/1556, 1.

¹¹⁵ Carter to Desai, Letter, 14 August 1978, JCPL, RAC NLC 128-3-2-9-5, 4.

¹¹⁶ Christopher to Carter, Memorandum, 3 October 1978, JCPL, RAC NLC 7-20-8-1-3, 2.

¹¹⁷ UKHC New Delhi to FCO, 17 July 1978, 2.

¹¹⁸ UKE Islamabad to FCO, ‘Your Telegram Number 654: Visit En Newsom’, 19 July 1978, TNA FCO96/823, 1; Kux, Disenchanted Allies, 237.

¹¹⁹ UKE Islamabad to FCO, 19 July 1978, 2.

¹²⁰ ‘French Nuclear Reprocessing Plant in Pakistan’, 17 July 1978, TNA FCO96/823.

¹²¹ ‘Record of Meeting of Foreign Ministers’, 17 July 1978, Thatcher MSS (Digital Collection), www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111458 (accessed on 10 December 2013), 4.

¹²² Prendergast to Cartledge, ‘Mr Desai’s Visit: UK/Indian Agreements’, 26 April 1978. TNA PREM 16/1694, 2; Beswick to Callaghan, Letter, 25 October 1978, TNA DEFE13/1318; Anon., ‘Britain wins big Delhi order for jet planes,’ The Times, 7 October 1978, 5.

¹²³ ‘Brief for the Call by the Indian Finance Minister on the Prime Minister’, 16/17 September, 1978, TNA PREM16/1556, 1.

¹²⁴ Callaghan to Desai, Letter, 13 November 1978, TNA PREM16/1556.

¹²⁵ Kapil Bhargava, ‘Quarter Century of the Jaguar in India’, www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Aircraft/Current/607-Jaguar-25.html (accessed on 10 December 2013).

¹²⁶ Craig, ‘The United Kingdom, the United States, and Nuclear Proliferation in South Asia’, 157-247.