Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Western Europe and Canada, Volume XXVII

42. Letter From the Chargé in France (Yost) to the French Minister of National Defense (Bourgès-Maunoury)¹

Paris, March 13, 1957.

Dear Mr. Minister : Your memorandum of December 13, 1956 regarding certain aspects of military assistance, military production and atomic weapons, has been considered carefully by my Government.² As this consideration was being completed, your letter of February 5 was received, setting out in detail the items of military equipment and materials which your Government desires to receive under the grant aid program or proposes be produced in France under offshore procurement contracts.³ Although the specific requests in your letter of February 5 will be given close examination, especially in connection with the development of current and future Military Assistance Programs, it is felt that the reply to your memorandum of December 13 should not be postponed while this examination is being completed, since the statements below of the United States position with respect to your general proposals are also applicable to your specific requests.

1. Deliveries to France under Military Assistance Program. I wish first of all to indicate that the grant aid program for NATO countries is not expected to be terminated after the delivery of the military items currently being programmed out of appropriations authorized by the Congress for FY 1957 and previous years. Secretary Wilson indicated to the North Atlantic Council in December 1956⁴ that beginning with the fiscal year 1957 program, new weapons would be included in the Military Assistance Program for the NATO area, and that a similar program also to include new weapons would be proposed for the fiscal year 1958. Information with regard to the programming for France of conventional equipment and new weapons in the fiscal year 1957 is being provided to the French military services through the established MAAG channels. Your military services have just been informed that the tentative allocations of new weapons to France in the current program include two Honest John battalions, one Matador squadron, and atomic conversion kits for F 84–F aircraft. The Executive Branch of the United States Government has proposed to the Congress that the Military Assistance Program be continued and that additional appropriations be provided therefor out of FY 1958 funds.

The Appropriation for the Military Assistance Program for the fiscal year 1957, although somewhat higher than that for the previous year, does not envisage the continuance of grant aid to France on the scale proposed in your letter of February 5, 1957. The fiscal year 1957 program was formulated on the assumption that the other NATO governments would assume an increasing share of maintenance costs, including the provision of spare parts and attrition replacements, for conventional equipment. This would make possible the application of a larger portion of limited United States grant aid funds to the provision of new weapons. As the United States representative stated during the 1956 NATO Annual Review, the United States will, subject to Congressional authorization, continue to provide certain additional conventional equipment for approved forces if there is adequate justification on military, economic and other grounds. Delivery of new weapons will be determined in the light of the recommendations of NATO military authorities, the ability of potential recipients to provide the necessary installations and qualified personnel to use and maintain such equipment, the existence of adequate security safeguards, the availability of the equipment, and the indications of likely development in Europe of facilities to maintain such equipment.

Grant aid under the Military Assistance Program has been limited to the requirements of NATO-committed forces. This policy has been followed in accordance with the original intent of the Program and of the legislative authorizations given for it, to provide arms and ammunition to meet the net deficiencies of the NATO forces in order to develop the capability to carry out agreed NATO plans. My Government realizes that considerable funds have been utilized or committed by France to procure in the United States certain supplementary arms required by the French forces operating in Algeria. While my Government has readily licensed the export of such arms to France for this purpose, it has considered these requirements to be a matter for decision exclusively by France in accordance with its own plans and policies, and has therefore not considered the financing of such purchases, either directly or indirectly, to be a suitable undertaking for the United States.

The question of the period during which the United States will provide as grant aid attrition replacements and spare parts for military items previously delivered under the Military Assistance Program to French NATO forces, must take into account the financial and technical capability of France to supply its requirements from indigenous production or to purchase them abroad. In this connection I am very glad to note the progress which has been made in the negotiations which are taking place between the MAAG and the French Armed Services, in accordance with the Ambassador’s letter of August 30, 1956,⁵ with a view to obtaining your acceptance of the earliest possible dates prior to 1959 for the cut-off of spare parts support for certain standard items of Army equipment. With regard to matériel purchased by France through commercial channels or under U.S. reimbursable aid procedures, I wish to reiterate that every effort will be made to assist the French Government under applicable procedures in replacing or maintaining such matériel, to the extent stocks are available. Since such stocks are not likely to be large, the French Armed Services are encouraged to make arrangements promptly for such supplies through appropriate commercial channels.

2. Offshore Procurement. The funds now available or likely to be available in fiscal year 1958 for offshore procurement in Europe as a whole, will be considerably reduced from the levels of earlier years. It is therefore not practicable to consider the procurement from United States funds of military equipment either of the variety or on the scale envisaged in your memorandum as amplified by your letter of February 5, 1957. The French Government should have this factor in mind if it is to make realistic plans for its military production program for the future. Every effort will be made to inform the Government of France as promptly as possible of the limited possibilities of offshore procurement by the United States, as our policies and plans are further developed in this field. At present no plans have been developed for the financing of production of new weapons in Europe. Discussions are already being conducted, however, through established MAAG channels regarding various other aspects of new weapons development and production.

3. Atomic matters. A separate reply has been made regarding the matters in the atomic field which were mentioned in your memorandum.

Sincerely yours,

Charles W Yost ⁶

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751.5–MSP/3–1857. Secret. Transmitted to the Department of State as an enclosure to despatch 1698 from Paris, March 18. (Ibid.)
2. The French memorandum of December 13, 1956, is an enclosure to despatch 1083 from Paris, December 26, 1956. (Ibid., 75 1.5–MSP/12–2656)
3. The French Defense Minister’s letter of February 5 is an enclosure to despatch 1406 from Paris, February 7. (Ibid., 751.5–MSP/2–757)
4. For documentation on the NAC meetings in Paris, December 11–14, 1956, see vol. IV, pp. 103 ff.
5. Ambassador Dillon’s letter of August 30, 1956, is an enclosure to despatch 383 from Paris, August 31, 1956. (Department of State, Central Files, 751.5–MSP/8–3156)
6. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.