The various plans that have been included under the heading deal indicate India's determination to obtain, by purchase or licensed construction, supersonic fighters of her own. In spite of her meagre resources, India would like to acquire a first class, modern air defense force capable of meeting any threat from either China or Pakistan. The story of the MIG deal, and of various related events, reveals some of the conflicting pressures, domestic and foreign, that have brought real or apparent confusion into Indian air defense policy. It will be noted that the question of greatly increased Soviet assistance to India's air defense came up months before the Chinese attack of October 20, 1962. Indeed the final MIG agreement appears to have been signed some days before that attack began. The following narrative, it appears, would have unfolded in much the same way even if the assault of October 20 had never taken place. In the summer of 1961 there was a report that India had purchased six MIG-19 fighter planes from the Soviet Union. The Indian Defense Ministry, however, denied the story and announced that India had in fact bought six Soviet jet engines of the type that powers the MIG-19.1 These engines were to be used in the HF-24, a fighter plane then under development by Hindustan Aircraft Limited (HAL) at Bangalore, Mysore. The airframe of this plane was designed by Dr. Kurt Tank, a German who had become an Indian citizen, and the government hoped that the first prototype would travel at modest supersonic speeds. In October, Defense Minister Krishna Menon told the defense correspondent of the Manchester Guardian that no decision had been made to buy a Soviet engine for the HF-24. But the correspondent insisted that some Russian VK-7s (the MIG-19 engine) were apparently being delivered for trial.2 In the spring of 1962, U.S. Congressmen expressed concern over reports that India would buy two squadrons of the latest type of MIG fighters. Indian Defense Ministry spokesmen denied the reports, but they soon turned out to be true. It was clear from Indian statements that the purpose