L.
CIA2
MEMORANDUM FOR: Dolores Wahl
Bureau of Intelligence and Research Department of State
Cotanunist Military Aid to India1
Attached is the final draft of the memorandum you requested on Communist military aid to India
^ttaenment
As stated above
CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM RSaSEAS
0
Moscow's Claims of Support
As teniions heightened on the Subcontinent after Matchand Soviet military delegations flowed in bothassess Indian requirements and to clarify commitments. and character of Soviet military aidthis period, however, are unclear because of theconflicting information, inadequate visual sightings,difficulty of identifying all arms carriers and Known agreements with the USSR1 totaledwere all signed during the last half of
Additional sgreements totaling
concluded with Czechoslovakia and Poland. It seems clear, however, that the magnitude of Soviet deliveries during March-September was not unusual and consisted largely of arms listed under earlier agreements. The USSR probably began shipping military equipment to India under newuring the fourth quarter
Although the published text of the Soviet-Indianof1 contained no provisions for the Sovietmilitary aid to India, some reports indicate that secretclauses to the Treaty do exist. The Indian Ministry ofAffairs reportedly stated that the treaty with theoupply of arr^ and anaunition toarmy in the event of hostilities with Pakistan orForeign Minister Gromyko reportedly assured Indiaand informally, that India can depend completely onequipment from the Soviet Union on preferential termsdelivery." This commitment supposedly was confirmedForeign Secretary Kaul. Information ostensiblythat
Soviet foreign Minister Gromyko "invltco Mrs. Gandhi todelegations to Moscow with military shoppinghe promised would be negotiated and delivered as
Soviet Deliveries1
All Soviet naval craft delivered to India3 werea9 military agreement. During January-April Indian Navyguided missile patrol
boats which were towed by soviethips to Calcutta for final fitting out. These boats subsequently were based in Bombay
and Okha, attacking tho Pakistani navy and port facilities at Karachi during the war in December.
Soviet deliveries of STYX miseries, naval aaounition, and spare parts too- place under the9 agreement0 spare parts accord. It is not known which Soviet arms carriers made the deliveries.
The Indian Air Forcefighter-
barbers0 arms agrccmen*
Deliveries of Soviet ground force equipment to India wore reported beginning in the FslL and probably were part of military aid contracts signed after Some sources reported that tanks, artillery, and anti-tank missiles were unloaded at Cochin duringumber of SovietB armored personnel carriers were observed in the country for the first time
Procurement in Eastern Europe
New Delhi has found Czechoslovakia and Poland convenientares for meeting its deficiencies of armored equipment. anfTODml) traced armored personnel
carriersi-hthe first
half ofwere shipped in Hay
and June from the Yugoslav port of RijeXa aboard Indian In July, an Indian ship loaded inldcntifiedvehiclesin Rijeha, indicating that
further contracts haa oeen concluded between the twoAugust-September loadings of Czechoslovakfor Indiaeast Skot)personneltransportersecember
rucks, bridging equipment, and ammunition. While
Moscow's role in these Czechoslovakian deliveries ia unknown, the Soviet shipping organization IHFLOT is known to have advised on ot Least sum? of the loading operations at ftijeka.
In July, India concludedaid agreement
with Polandnew Delhi's first' agree-
ment with Warsawajor type of combat equipment. At least
of the tanks were scheduled for shipment by late'Septcmber, and oelivcry of all robably was completed by earlyn October, India and Poland were negotiating for additional tanks with some of them to be delivcrca ueiure cue end of November. Some Indian merchant vessels are known to hove carried explosives and ammunition from Varna, Bulgaria.
Original document.
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