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Further Reading

Egyptian Air Force Equipment Overview

When the 1973 war ended, Sadat repeatedly pressed the Soviets to replace Egypt's losses with more advanced aircraft that could rival the American aircraft being flown by the Israelis. Angered by Soviet delays, Sadat ordered Mirage 5 aircraft from France and, later on, F-4E fighters from the United States. Deliveries of the latter began in mid-1979.

One of the first sales from the U.S. after the Camp David meetings was for two squadrons of F-4Es for the Egyptian Air Force. This sale characterizes an important aspect of the U.S. security assistance program to Egypt. The F-4s were sold as much for their political impact as for their military practicality. A far more practical aircraft to sell Egypt would have been F-5s -- cheaper, easier to maintain, easier to fly, and still effective. However, the F-5 wasn't as capable as the F-4, which was the aircraft IsraeL had beaten the Egyptian Air Force with in 1973. Therefore, the U.S. delivered the F-4s to the Egyptian Air Force despite the fact that they were unable to support that type of weapons system and despite the cost. It was politically important for the Egyptians to posses the same quality of equipment as the Israelis.

In addition, two batches of more advanced F-16s were delivered between 1986 and 1989. Delivery of a third batch, which would bring the total number of F-16s in operational units to 120, began in 1991. As of 1990, Egypt was negotiating a fourth batch of forty-six aircraft. Egypt originally planned to purchase forty Mirage 2000s from France, but as of late 1989 no decision had been reached on acquiring the remaining aircraft. In the 1990s Egypt spent as much as 80 percent of US military aid on the air force. As part of the 'Peace Vector Program', the Egyptian air force made four orders of F-16s, totaling 190 planes. About 130 F-16s had arrived and the last batch, which will be assembled in Turkey, will start arriving around 1997. Egypt also obtained approval for the purchase of 21 F-16C aircraft. The EAF modernized its F-16 fighters to have the capability of carrying and lunching AIM-7 Sparrow AAM and AGM-84 Harpoon anti-shipping missiles and GBU TV stand off guided bombes. The Air Force has continued to receive a flow of F-16 fighter aircraft from the US. By 1995, the EAF had a total of some 170 F-16A/B/C and D variant fighters in service. Planning for a fifth batch of F-16C/Ds under Peace Vector V program, was underway by mid-1995. The F-16 is now the backbone of the EAF (220 fighters were 196 are operational and 24 are in order).

Egyptians has also acquired a modern helicopter fleet. The EAF ordered an initial batch of 24 McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache attack helicopters in 1994, and was expected to take delivery of twelve more. These helicopters posses state-of-the-art night-flying equipment and carry up to 16 Hellfire antitank weapons and 38 rockets. These AH-64A attack helicopters are being upgraded to D Longbow version.

In 1997 it received SH-2G (E) anti-submarine helicopters to work with the navy. Egypt has enhanced its airborne early warning capabilities by taking delivery of five Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes. At the same time, the EAF began the process of trying to acquire ex-US Navy P-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft to replace its Tu-16 Badger-Gs. No decision has yet been made on this program.

With the cooperation of Chinese and Western manufacturers, Egypt developed a major domestic industry that assembled aircraft and produced parts. The Egyptian and Pakistani governments reportedly agreed in November 2000 on a major bilateral defense trade agreement which involved the refurbishment of Egyptian Air Force (EAF) aircraft in Pakistan in exchange for the supply of Egyptian F-16A/B spare parts to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The deal, which had been in preparation for some time, was reportedly finalized by Pakistan Chief Executive Gen. Pervez Musharraf and senior Egyptian officials at the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Doha on November 13-14, 2000. What was agreed, reportedly, included:

• The provision by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) at Kamra, near Islamabad, of major overhauls and upgrades of some or all of the airframes and engines of the EAF's 13 Dassault Mirage 5 E2 tactical fighters; appr. 45 Dassault Mirage 5 SDE tactical fighters; less than 6 Dassault Mirage 5SDR tactical reconnaissance aircraft; and 5 Dassault Mirage 5 SDD operational trainers at the Mirage Rebuild Facility, which is part of PAC;
• The provision by PAC of major overhauls and upgrades of some or all of the airframes and engines of the EAF's appr. 45 Chengdu F-7B Fishbed tactical fighters at the F-6 Rebuild Facility, part of PAC. [Although called the F-6 Rebuild Facility, it undertakes major work on A-5, F-6 and F-7 types.] As well, similar work would be undertaken on some or all of the EAF's appr. 400 Mikoyan MiG-21PFS, MiG-21PFM and MiG-21MF Fishbed tactical fighters; appr. 10 Mikoyan MiG-21R Fishbed tactical reconnaissance aircraft; and appr.12 Mikoyan MiG-21UM/US Mongol operational trainers; as well as appr. 50 Shenyang F-6 Farmer tactical fighters; 5 Shenyang FT-6 Farmer operational trainers.
• The provision by Pakistan Ordnance Factories, at Wah Cantonment, near Islamabad, of a range of ordnance and munitions for the Egyptian Armed Forces;
• Other as-yet unidentified goods and services to be provided by Pakistan to the Egyptian Armed Forces;
• Provision by Egypt of spare parts for the PAF's appr. 35 F-16A/B fighters.

Egyptian Air Force sources indicated in January 2001 that the EAF was to acquire a significant quantity of Karakorum K-8 advanced jet trainer/light strike aircraft from Pakistan, basically to replace its approximately 25 Dassault-Breguet/Dornier Alpha Jet MS1 advanced trainers and approximately a dozen Dassault-Breguet/Dornier Alpha Jet MS2 light attack aircraft.

The improvement of the Egyptian air force is not limited to combat planes. The Egyptian air force, according to Israeli military analysts, have adopted Western command and control, attack techniques, support and aerial combat roles as well as training, most of it at US facilities. The Egyptians have also purchased advance ordnance, avionics and accessories. Egypt's defense capabilities were greatly enhanced by the acquisition of 180 Hawk and 1,000 Hellfire II missile.

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), AIR-1.4, SH-2G (E) Program Manager (PM) is responsiblefor the ongoing Program Management of the SH-2G(E) Program for the Gvernment of Egypt and forimplementing multiple programs to the SH-2G(E) weapon system, including Egyptian Depot LevelMaintenance (EDLM), upgrades, and tactics. The PM is also responsible for the development of a new SH-2G Search and Rescue (SAR) program for the Egyptian Air Force (EAF).

On October 9, 2009 the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Egypt of 24 F-16C/D Block 50/52 Aircraft and associated parts weapons andequipment, as well as other Non-MDE equipment and construction services. The total value, if all options areexercised, could be as high as $3.2 Billion. The Government of Egypt has requested a possible sale of 24 F-16C/D Block 50/52 Aircraft installed with either the F100-PW-229 or F110-GE-129 Increased Performance Engines (IPE) and APG-68(V)9 radars.

The EAF entered the third millennium with large upgrading and modifying programmers. Old L-29 is being replaced by advanced K-8E that will be locally built in Egypt and the German Group-105 will replace old HA-100 in the Egyptian air academy service. Egyptian Air Force: ongoing technical support, maintenance support and spare parts for C-130's, F-4's, F-16's, E2-C's, CH-47's, Falcon Business Jets, Apaches, and Black Hawks. There are construction projects for air base infrastructure for the Egyptian Air Force. They will probably also require control tower equipment and aircraft simulator support.