Egypt F-16 Peace Vector
Egypt signed a letter of agreement in June 1980 to acquire 42 Block 15 F-16 fighters under the Peace Vector Foreign Military Sales program. The first aircraft was accepted by the Egyptian Air Force in January 1982. The first six planes arrived in Egypt in March 1982. In the Peace Vector II program, Egypt ordered 40 additional Block 32 F-16s. In October 1986, the first of these aircraft arrived in Egypt. The 242nd Regiment at Beni Suef began operating F-16Cs in October 1986.
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.
In June 1990, Egypt signed an order for 47 Block 40 F-16s, powered by the General Electric F110 turbofan engine. The first of these Peace Vector III F-16s was delivered to Egypt in October 1991. A contract to produce 46 Block 40 F-16C/Ds for the Egyptian Air Force was placed with TUSAS Aerospace Industries (TAI) of Turkey in 1993. Carried out under the Peace Vector IV program, this contract marked the first sale of a foreign-built Fighting Falcon to a third-party nation. The first aircraft was delivered in early 1994, and deliveries continued into 1995. All but one of the earlier F-16s for Egypt had originated on the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company production line.
Egypt received 175 Fighting Falcons by the time all the TAI planes were delivered. In May 1996, Egypt signed a letter of agreement for 21 new F-16 Block 40 aircraft. This represented Egypt's fifth F-16 order in 15 years. In June 1999, Egypt ordered 24 F-16 Block 40 aircraft under the Peace Vector VI program. These aircraft were delivered during 2001 and 2002. They were the last Block 40 aircraft produced.
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 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).
On March 3rd, 2010 the U.S. government awarded an initial $213 million to Lockheed Martin for long-lead tasks for the production of 20 new Advanced Block 52 F-16 aircraft for Egypt. This marked the 53rd follow-on buy of F-16s by 14 repeat customers. The aircraft delivered to Egypt join the fleet of more than 4,400 F-16s representing 25 nations. The new aircraft order includes 16 F-16Cs and 4 F-16Ds, and will supplement the Egyptian Air Force's (EAF) existing fleet of F-16s and contribute to the modernization of the EAF. The final Egyptian F-16 under this contract was delivered in 2013. Egypt was the first Arab country to purchase F-16s through a Foreign Military Sales program called Peace Vector. The Egyptian Air Force received a total of 42 F-16s in its first order in 1980 and since then had purchased five more lots of aircraft, for a total of 240 F-16 Fighting Falcons.
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