Egyptian Armed Forces

[Ghostkiller]

These are older pics from when the 13th, 14th & 15th Rafales were leaving France headed to Egypt for delivery. Interesting discussion about this was that they were being flown by Egyptian pilots which was supposedly impressing a few French media & forum outlets that the EAF pilots had trained and mastered the aircraft so well in a rather short time that they were able to take on that rather lengthy flight which included 2 A2A refueling by an A330 MRTT Airbus tanker.

You have a some sources?

 

[Ghostkiller]

 

[Ghostkiller]

Can the AK-12 be our standard rifle in the 5 years?

 

[Gomig-21]

@The SC
Lighten up, the mental health breakdown was a joke. You could have told us what you meant with the music posts because me and @Gomig-21 thought your account was hacked haha.

Absolutely, man! I was really worried because that was so unlike him lmaoooo! Glad he was having fun at the expense of our stress rofl.

The music relates to all these positive news for Egypt..I wonder why you and @Gomig-21 didn't get it the first place here and on the Greece thread.. are you both constipated about the dance and music expression.. or is it taboo to you.. HaHaHahaha!

Brohand, what on earth does that video with those 3 pieces of a$$ shaking their bootie ala belly dance have anything to do with the current events or let alone this thread?! Was there a half naked chick dancing on a Mistral or something like that? lolzolo. Or was it due to the celebration of the Black Eagles and Silver Stars? You really had us worried, homestead.

Think about it for a minute, I've known you since 2016 and all you do is post the best military stuff not just for Arab nations, but worldwide and then suddenly you're posting singing chicks and half naked belly dancers on at least 2 or 3 different threads lmaaoo. You see how Phillip & myself (and probably others) might've been a bit concerned? Glad my request for the real @The SC to please stand up was taken seriously! lol

Anyways, great pic of the Black Eagles performing the crisscross pegoshgosh.

There was a guy who responded to the tweet about the show by Mahmoud Gamal who brought up a point that I always wondered for many years, even for 2 decades as all types of aircraft and especially fighter jets love to fly by the pyramids for the most iconic photo-op ever and this guy thought that it was a bit irresponsible that they would hold such a show at such a historic sight. Not only for the hopeful safety of the pilots of course, but God forbid if there ever was an accident that it could destroy a large portion of these historic structures.

He did have a point, but I don't think he's aware of the rules and regulation of not only airshows or passages by the pyramids, but for any air show is that they never perform their actual stunts directly over the spectators or as in this case, over the Sphinx or pyramids. All fly-bys are also at a marked distance. They would be to one side or the other exactly for that reason and they use a landmark as "point zero" which they use to gauge their coordination and point of reference for stunts. The Blue Angels are very good at displaying that principle that all demonstration teams use.

You have a some sources?

It was a combination of several forum discussions that lapsed several pages and long posts etc. would take too long and to go back and find it and all the patch posts and stories etc., sorry.

But another interesting point one of them brought up is what would be the flight path for Rafales with Egyptian insignia and what protocol for air space would they need or use which I found pretty interesting. Can't remember what the answer for that was, but there would be several paths they could take and I think the easiest and most straight forward one would be to fly south of France right over Marseille and onto the Mediterranean and either stop in Malta or Tunis and then from there straight to Egypt. This way they wouldn't need to fly over any specific airspace to request permission except for those two if they need to land.

Still can't get over how mint these super rare F-16Bs block 15 originally are and upgraded to block 40. These were delivered in 1982 that makes them 40 years old and look at their condition thx to the EAF maintenance teams.

And some people still have the audacity to mention "logistical nightmare" at the new aircraft coming in. Blows my mind when I see how they take care of these super old birds of which they only ordered 8 of these special 2-seat B models. And this ultimate care and exceptional maintenance by EAF crew teams at a time these Fighting Falcons showed up in Egypt, the EAF was flying let's see, how many fighters from different makes and models:

F-16s
F-4E Phantom IIs
MiG-21s
MiG-17s
Chengdu F-6s
Chengdu F-7s a bit later
Mirage 2000
Mirage Vs
Mirage IIICs they kept from Libya after 73
K-8 Karakorum

And they never had any problems with any logistical nightmare then while operating 10 or so different types. Now it would be even more reduced assuming they're going to field the entire wish list from;

F-16s
Rafales
MiG-29M/M2
Su-35SE
Eurofighter Typhoon
K-8 or replacement

That's half of what they operated back in the 80s lol.

 

[The SC]

Absolutely, man! I was really worried because that was so unlike him lmaoooo! Glad he was having fun at the expense of our stress rofl.



Brohand, what on earth does that video with those 3 pieces of a$$ shaking their bootie ala belly dance have anything to do with the current events or let alone this thread?! Was there a half naked chick dancing on a Mistral or something like that? lolzolo. Or was it due to the celebration of the Black Eagles and Silver Stars? You really had us worried, homestead.

Think about it for a minute, I've known you since 2016 and all you do is post the best military stuff not just for Arab nations, but worldwide and then suddenly you're posting singing chicks and half naked belly dancers on at least 2 or 3 different threads lmaaoo. You see how Phillip & myself (and probably others) might've been a bit concerned? Glad my request for the real @The SC to please stand up was taken seriously! lol

Anyways, great pic of the Black Eagles performing the crisscross pegoshgosh.

View attachment 867233

There was a guy who responded to the tweet about the show by Mahmoud Gamal who brought up a point that I always wondered for many years, even for 2 decades as all types of aircraft and especially fighter jets love to fly by the pyramids for the most iconic photo-op ever and this guy thought that it was a bit irresponsible that they would hold such a show at such a historic sight. Not only for the hopeful safety of the pilots of course, but God forbid if there ever was an accident that it could destroy a large portion of these historic structures.

He did have a point, but I don't think he's aware of the rules and regulation of not only airshows or passages by the pyramids, but for any air show is that they never perform their actual stunts directly over the spectators or as in this case, over the Sphinx or pyramids. All fly-bys are also at a marked distance. They would be to one side or the other exactly for that reason and they use a landmark as "point zero" which they use to gauge their coordination and point of reference for stunts. The Blue Angels are very good at displaying that principle that all demonstration teams use.



It was a combination of several forum discussions that lapsed several pages and long posts etc. would take too long and to go back and find it and all the patch posts and stories etc., sorry.

But another interesting point one of them brought up is what would be the flight path for Rafales with Egyptian insignia and what protocol for air space would they need or use which I found pretty interesting. Can't remember what the answer for that was, but there would be several paths they could take and I think the easiest and most straight forward one would be to fly south of France right over Marseille and onto the Mediterranean and either stop in Malta or Tunis and then from there straight to Egypt. This way they wouldn't need to fly over any specific airspace to request permission except for those two if they need to land.

Still can't get over how mint these super rare F-16Bs block 15 originally are and upgraded to block 40. These were delivered in 1982 that makes them 40 years old and look at their condition thx to the EAF maintenance teams.

View attachment 867107

And some people still have the audacity to mention "logistical nightmare" at the new aircraft coming in. Blows my mind when I see how they take care of these super old birds of which they only ordered 8 of these special 2-seat B models. And this ultimate care and exceptional maintenance by EAF crew teams at a time these Fighting Falcons showed up in Egypt, the EAF was flying let's see, how many fighters from different makes and models:

F-16s
F-4E Phantom IIs
MiG-21s
MiG-17s
Chengdu F-6s
Chengdu F-7s a bit later
Mirage 2000
Mirage Vs
Mirage IIICs they kept from Libya after 73
K-8 Karakorum

And they never had any problems with any logistical nightmare then while operating 10 or so different types. Now it would be even more reduced assuming they're going to field the entire wish list from;

F-16s
Rafales
MiG-29M/M2
Su-35SE
Eurofighter Typhoon
K-8 or replacement

That's half of what they operated back in the 80s lol.

Now the South Korean and Egyptian airplanes are dancing in the sky..HaHaHa!

Well belly dance is in our culture from Samarkand to Rabat..it is a nice entertainment and pretty artistic expression both music and the body..It is always a happy event.. and it is popular throughout the world..Eastern Europe and South America in particular..
Do you want to see some Korean belly-dance..?? HaHa! I've seen it before..

Did you guys at least enjoyed the music???

 

[Readerdefence]

Thanks for the post. Are you suggesting that the only reason Pakistan was able to purchase the Global/Erie Eye when it did was because Musharaf was very friendly with G.W.B. who then put pressure on the Swedes & SAAB to sell the advanced AEW&C aircraft to Pakistan in the middle of the WoT and that if it was asked the same today, the Swedes and SAAB would deny the aircraft to Pakistan?

But Pakistan is still a democracy, right? With elections (despite the vote of no confidence against the Imran Khan, it's still a legal political process) that allows the Pakistani parliament to go through and is not considered like a "coup" as Sisis has been labeled to have committed.

As a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, most types of governments that operate under the same principle as the British parliamentary with acting prime ministers having more authority than the president him/herself would such as the UK, Israel, Pakistan and others have and use that same doctrine in their constitution of having a vote for no confidence statute.

So, had Pakistan been interested in purchasing the Erie Eye today, are you saying it would be denied by Sweden? Why, though?



Which is why it's the #1 selling aircraft after the F-35 and soon possibly able to pass it because more and more countries want nothing to do with the US military chokehold or with countries that have very close ties with the US military, such as the UK.

That's why I see the Typhoon as a very difficult sell to the EAF and would be a miracle if it happens, let alone being sold the meteor missile! Both of those will remain to be seen with very high anticipation.



Inferior? It might have certain capabilities that surpass those of the Rafale but the Rafale also has its own certain capabilities that surpass those of the Typhoon. I'd say they're so close that one might be better suited for certain air forces than the other and vice versa, meaning it's not so cut and dry.



Well, a double agent would essentially be a traitor. He was neither and was an absolute spy and agent to Sadat and Egypt. Very plainly put, he misled the Israelis on several occasions, the first one being him telling them the war was to happen in May of 1973 which of course never happened and then being told by Sadat to tell the Jews that the war would start at 6pm instead of 2 because (and this was the genius of Sadat as well as his intel partners at the time) that since they already had information that the Egyptian military was up to something AND that there was also the possibility of the RAT King Hussein of Jordan who did not want to participate in the war that he would RAT out Egypt to the Israelis out of fear and cowardice which is exactly what he did! There is the traitor in this entire picture if you're looking at one.

So knowing that the Jews could see something happening, and they had been already scammed by Marwan telling them the war was to happen in May and it never did, that when he would tell them it was going to happen at 6pm instead of 2, they wouldn't believe him at all that there would even be a war because he was mistaken the first time, or was he? lol. Egyptian intel figured they wouldn't trust him this time and figured he was feeding them wrong information and there wouldn't be any war. And that's exactly what happened; they didn't take him seriously and it worked 100% in Egypt's favor. Despite King Hussein's rat behavior.

The other very obvious proof is why on earth would he accidently fall off his luxury London apartment balcony without any shoes that the British homicide detective could never find? How many spies and whatever's has the mossad ended their presence in such a similar manner? And in the UK also? Does the Egyptian intel do those kinds of murderous actions or is it much more likely to come from the jews hit squad? Especially when one of the neighbors that was questioned immediately after it happened said she saw 2 men with black suits look down from the balcony right after it happened and then disappear.

Put all of that together and it's pretty obvious who he really was working for. Oh yeah, he was also married to Nasser's daughter lol.

Hi Gomig 21 thanks for your detailed reply beside the reply your post is always informative to read regarding others to reply
let me give you a clue about Saab /Sweden though I’m not going much into politics but couple of things just to clear pakistan is not in state of spending billions of defence deals to go through from there exchequer at the moment beside that Indians are well capable to block any hardware coming from USA or European side to cut the long story short due to human right issues and proxy’s going on in Pakistan Sweden has sanctioned Pakistan not to supply anything one way or the other
another story is as non of the western hardware or USA is coming to Pakistan anymore Pakistan is more tilted towards link 17 for Chinese awacs J10 & jf17 so whatever Swedish assets we have is enough for the remaining f16 with PAF that’s one the reason European we’re not ready to share link 16 with Chinese so PAF has to go for Chinese awacs too
I’ll give you A little clue about Swedish awacs now if you go through previous history PAF got 4/5 swedish awacs USA manage to sell Indian navy multiple P8 so it’s like they close their eyes for the time being from Pakistan and let them have awacs while showing to Indians sell them P8
now you have more knowledge then me I’ll ask you a simple can Egypt buy Rafale without usa consent I mean French can not sell anything without USA consent & if you guys still waiting for meteor or even to get these let’s say after another 3/4 years down the line what’s the point of not getting these then and there
just a little offtopic which ever country at the moment buying Rafales all those are getting after USA let France to sell them coz USA has to adjust French also one way or the other after French been kicked out by USA in Australian nuclear submarine deal
I hope you I’ll write something better and more informative then whatever I wrote
thank you

 

[The SC]

The Spectacular Black Eagles Aerobatic Display Team South Korea T-50 Golden Eagle RIAT 2022​

 

[The SC]

Egypt's new steps towards localizing the technology of the arms industry in Egypt in cooperation with China and Serbia recently

TMM40 turbojet engine

TMM40 is small expendable turbojet engine rated for 40daN of static thrust. It has been designed to meet low-cost engine approach, but to keep thrust-to-weight and thrust-to-cross section ratio at the challenged level. Also, design goal was that engine can be easily sized to bigger engines, up to 500daN.. the engine consist of three stage axial compressor, annular combustion chamber with six injectors, axial turbine. Intake and exhaust nozzle modules may be modified for certain missile design..

Another version:

Meet ALAS XX​

 

[Hydration]

You have a source? Because if it happened it would have declared a war between Egypt and Israel that's why I want to ask a Unit 777 officier (i think the 777 did the mission) if it is true yes or no. So I doubt a little from it.

Its real
You can find it on youtube

 

[Ghostkiller]

Egypt's new steps towards localizing the technology of the arms industry in Egypt in cooperation with China and Serbia recently

 

[Ghostkiller]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1-JdWGbfIlXSbFk3jOz00w/community?lb=Ugkx_dCx2MCLzMgouLUUqVfGuNXPyPbP2Yy5

Egypt may take advantage of old fast missile launchers and provide them with launchers to carry suicide drones to strike land and sea targets

For example, it can be equipped with various suicide drones, such as the Serbian Raven-145, which has a range of 150 km, is light in weight between 35 and 50 kg, and carries a warhead weighing 15 kg. It is guided by satellite navigation and a TV/IIR optical searcher to detect targets and can stay in the air. For 5 hours to monitor its targets and fly at a low altitude with a link that allows the operator to see what the drone researcher sees
The drone is light and has small dimensions and a large number of it can be carried

Also, the Chinese ASN-301 anti-air defense drone is also a great option. The task of this type of drone is to monitor emissions of hostile radars, close them and destroy them. The range of the drone reaches up to 290 km and can stay in the air for 4 hours and can work independently on autopilot or controlled by an operator

Egypt may equip the old pieces with a mixture of suicide drones capable of bombing land and sea targets, and it will be a wonderful addition, of course, and with the manufacture of these drones locally, it will be even more wonderful..

 

[Gomig-21]

Hi Gomig 21 thanks for your detailed reply beside the reply your post is always informative to read regarding others to reply

You're too kind, my friend. But thank you anyway I appreciate the compliment.

let me give you a clue about Saab /Sweden though I’m not going much into politics but couple of things just to clear pakistan is not in state of spending billions of defence deals to go through from there exchequer at the moment beside that Indians are well capable to block any hardware coming from USA or European side to cut the long story short due to human right issues and proxy’s going on in Pakistan Sweden has sanctioned Pakistan not to supply anything one way or the other

I'm starting to recognize what you're saying makes sense. I never thought India had that much clout as to dictate things to the US vis a vis Pakistani procurements. But I suppose when you're a top 5 or so economy in the world (despite the internal problems it has) and the US looking to India as a huge military procurement customer, it makes sense that it could influence the US. Plus I think it's pretty evident that once the US doesn't need Pakistan -- or anyone else for that matter -- it can drop them in a heartbeat like a hot cake. That might've been Pakistan's fate once the WoT was essentially over around 2011 when OBL was taken out. It might've even started before then.

I suppose with Egypt there is always the entity to our northeast that the US must protect under any circumstances, and being that Egypt is untrustworthy to the US behind closed doors (despite never being the ones to attack that little hellhole since 1948 yet Egypt was ravished by the Jews' expansionist ambitions 3 times since), we're still looked upon as scum of the earth loool and particularly untrustworthy with possession of super advanced weapons from the US because of our open friendship policy towards the west AND the east and everyone in between. Naturally the US is not happy with such a friendly disposition towards Russia (and China to some extent, obviously not as much as Pakistan in that case, but enough to give the US some phantom cause for concern) and so certain advanced weapons are kept away for reasons of possible 3rd party violations. I guess they think that we would open up an AIM-120 and invite the Russians and Chinese into the room to take pictures of it!!!! lol. That just plain sucks, TBH. Egypt has been nothing but straight forward with all its dealing with the US and the west that for them to take that position is nothing but a crying shame.

another story is as non of the western hardware or USA is coming to Pakistan anymore Pakistan is more tilted towards link 17 for Chinese awacs J10 & jf17 so whatever Swedish assets we have is enough for the remaining f16 with PAF that’s one the reason European we’re not ready to share link 16 with Chinese so PAF has to go for Chinese awacs too
I’ll give you A little clue about Swedish awacs now if you go through previous history PAF got 4/5 swedish awacs USA manage to sell Indian navy multiple P8 so it’s like they close their eyes for the time being from Pakistan and let them have awacs while showing to Indians sell them P8

The similarities are uncanny, actually, when you think about it. Pakistan is like Egypt & vice versa while India is like Israel & vice versa, both playing the same games with the US. I did read a little bit about Pakistan and its wanting to work with link 17 etc. Interesting as it seems to present the same challenges as Egypt has. Working with platforms from both ends of the spectrum and trying to combine them into a single, uniform network centric environment makes it quite the challenge, but we both seem to have those same exact challenges. Trying to merge F-16s with J-10s and other platforms while on the other hand trying to merge F-16s & Rafales with MiG-29M/M2s and possibly Su-35Ss. I suppose the Erieye presents the same challenges as let's say the E-2C Hawkeye when it comes to connecting networks and coms with either Russian or Chinese platforms.

I think once the outside world begins to see both countries such as Pakistan and Egypt merge all their mixed platforms successfully, it will start a whole new revolution in military aviation, and we will most likely end up seeing many more air forces copy the same doctrine. I've been anticipating this happening for quite some time, actually since 2015 once the EAF started acquiring both, the Rafale & MiG-29Ms and produced its own indigenous com network in the RISC2, and even more so recently when Pakistan signed the contract for the J-10s. Not many, if any, out there are combining both ends of the spectrum like both these air forces.

The big money-making trick out there now is to produce the AWACs platform that combines both types of aircraft coms packages under a single IFF network and data linkage that is easily upgraded in either type of aircraft as well. THAT would be one of the biggest developments that could possibly happen that would change the world of combat networking,

now you have more knowledge then me I’ll ask you a simple can Egypt buy Rafale without usa consent I mean French can not sell anything without USA consent & if you guys still waiting for meteor or even to get these let’s say after another 3/4 years down the line what’s the point of not getting these then and there
just a little offtopic which ever country at the moment buying Rafales all those are getting after USA let France to sell them coz USA has to adjust French also one way or the other after French been kicked out by USA in Australian nuclear submarine deal
I hope you I’ll write something better and more informative then whatever I wrote
thank you

I don't really have more knowledge than you, my friend. I thought about that dynamic a little bit but never gave it that much thought in the end but now that you mention it, it makes a lot of sense that the US does have a pinchold on the French regarding being able to sell whatever it wishes to Egypt or whomever. My only resistance to that line of thinking would be what happened with the SCALP-EG missiles and how the US did put a stop on those being sold to Egypt and the French went right ahead and changed out the US components to make the sale happen. That might be a bit contrary to that line of thinking or at least challenge it somehow. I'm guessing there is a certain amount of clout the US has over France with the sale of Rafales to Egypt. Luckily I'm also guessing it might not be as strong as you and me think since the level of equipment France was able to sell to Egypt is staggering when you think about it. The 2 Mistrals LHD helicopter carriers, a FREMM frigate, ToT for building 3 out of 4 Gowing Corvettes in Egypt as well as the first BVR capable A2A missiles in the MICAs, the state of the art AASM Hammers PGMs and Aster 15 & 30 for the ships and of course, the SCALP-EG cruise missiles. Cannot discount the weapons packages either.

There are also the sales of German stuff to Egypt. Despite the 6 A200 MEKOs frigates and the phenomenal IRIS-T-SL SAM systems, Germany also supplied the 4 Type 209 submarines to Egypt which according to several sources, the Jews lost their minds about those (as well as the IRIS-T-SL but not as much as the submarines). Could Germany be defying the US if Israel was crying about the subs like the little child that it is? lol, taking a little temper tantrum like the spoiled little brat that it is? Certainly, things to ponder from your interesting point.

The Spectacular Black Eagles Aerobatic Display Team South Korea T-50 Golden Eagle RIAT 2022

Man, what a show that was! I've never seen them perform but watching that was super impressive! Wow! That one aircraft was performing a negative G pushover around minute 10:30 alongside another one which is not very easy to do and very dangerous. A lot of smooth flying and some very original stunts I must say!

Those T-50s are pretty nice, kinda like mini F-16s.

 

[Hydration]

June 3, 2022, 9:19 AM
In early May, the Islamic State-Sinai Province killed 11 Egyptian soldiers and damaged a natural gas pipeline. Far from demonstrating the Islamic State’s power in the strategic peninsula, the attack was the first major incident in almost a year, a far cry from the full-blown jihadi insurgency that had gripped Sinai only a few years ago. The Egyptian military finally appears to be making progress in rolling back the group. Not only have there been fewer attacks, but Cairo’s funneling of economic development funds to the peninsula has also generated some goodwill among the long-restive population. In March 2021, a coalition of Bedouin tribesmen, armed civilians, and Egyptian military killed the region’s Islamic State leader.
Egypt’s apparent success has been, in part, a result of Cairo’s shift away from a heavy-handed military approach replete with collateral destruction and civilian casualties to a nimbler counterinsurgency strategy with a heavy emphasis on checkpoints and curfews. Israeli tactical air support has also played an important, if less publicized, role. Egyptian-Israeli cooperation contributed in another even more important way: by mutually agreeing to substantial violations of their 1978 peace treaty—or, more precisely, the treaty’s security annex limiting Sinai’s militarization. Not only has Egypt allowed Israel to operate over Egyptian territory, but Israel also allowed Cairo to flood Sinai with troops and heavy equipment substantially in excess of the treaty’s limits.
While these deployments have been indispensable to Egypt’s campaign against the Islamic State, they have also changed—perhaps irrevocably—the status quo for Sinai, where an international peacekeeping force still watches over what is stipulated in the peace treaty to be a largely demilitarized buffer zone. Although the current militarization of Sinai comes at a time of excellent Egyptian-Israeli relations, history suggests that this could quickly change. After all, it has been barely a decade since the Egyptian revolution brought an openly Islamist, anti-Israeli president to power. For nearly 45 years, the treaty’s limits on military deployment in Sinai buttressed the peace. If not reversed, Egyptian violations could threaten the core provisions of the agreement and, over time, compromise the integrity of the treaty.

---

The Sinai insurgency started in 2011 following the abdication of President Hosni Mubarak during the Egyptian revolution. As the security situation rapidly deteriorated throughout Egypt, a new organization called al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula claimed responsibility for attacking a police station in Arish. In the years that followed, the attacks blossomed into a full-blown jihadi rebellion, in which hundreds of Egyptian police, soldiers, and civilians were killed. By 2014, the most prominent terrorist group in the peninsula, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, had affiliated with the Islamic State and succeeded in mounting multiple attacks on gas pipelines in Sinai, downing an Egyptian military helicopter, sinking a naval vessel, shooting a rocket at a cargo ship in the Suez Canal, killing 311 worshipers in an assault on a mosque, and blowing up a Russian passenger aircraft with 224 people, mostly tourists, on board.
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In 2013, Egypt faced rising casualties and a collapse of tourism revenues. According to a former high-ranking official with knowledge of the talks, Egyptian military officers approached their Israeli counterparts both directly and through the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), the international organization set up to monitor compliance with military aspects of the treaty, to request some exemptions to the agreement’s security annex so that more robust forces could respond to the insurgency. The annex divides the peninsula into three zones and stipulates, among other things, that Egypt can deploy only one mechanized infantry division with up to 22,000 troops, 230 tanks, and 480 armored personnel vehicles in Zone A, the area closest to the Suez Canal. Only border guards and police are allowed in Zones B and C, respectively, which are closer to Israel. Since then, Egypt has made hundreds of requests to exceed treaty limitations on soldiers and weaponry—and Israel approved every one, according to current and former officials.

---

The MFO operates observation posts and performs biweekly reconnaissance patrols that scour Sinai from the ground and the air, counting Egyptian forces, vehicles, and weapons. To keep track of Egypt’s deployments in excess of treaty limits, the MFO records Egyptian requests approved by Israel in a spreadsheet called the “Omnibus Agreed Activities” list, a lengthy and highly detailed register of numbers, locations, and types of additional vehicles and weapons deployed to Sinai. It is updated monthly.
While the MFO’s list is not publicly available, the number of Egyptian soldiers in Zones B and C—from which the treaty prohibits them—is substantial. Four years ago, then-Egyptian Chief of Staff Mohammed Farid Hegazy reported that 24,630 soldiers were taking part in counterterrorism operations in northeast Sinai, in addition to around 20,000 stationed elsewhere in the peninsula. Some analysts’ estimates are significantly higher. Eli Dekel, a former Israeli intelligence officer, has drawn on commercially available satellite imagery to peg Egypt’s total Sinai deployment at three times the total permitted under the treaty. Nearly two-thirds of them are operating in Zones B and C.
Assuming these numbers are remotely credible, Egypt today has at least double the number of troops in Sinai originally permitted in the peace treaty, half of which are operating in prohibited areas. These soldiers are equipped with artillery and vehicles also not allowed by the treaty, including an estimated 200 additional tanks beyond the 230 allowed in Zone A, according to several current and former officials. All this is being done with Israel’s concurrence.
Read More
The Emirati, Israeli, and U.S. flags are flown from an El Al passenger aircraft after its arrival in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Aug. 31, 2020.

Why Has Biden Stopped Pushing for Arab-Israeli Peace?​

Not building on the Abraham Accords has been the biggest missed opportunity of his first year.
Argument |John Hannah, Jonathan Ruhe
To be sure, Egypt legitimately needed a substantial surge in forces and military equipment to contain the Islamic State threat. Israel, concerned about having the terrorist group permanently embedded on its southern border and next to Gaza, acceded to the requests without hesitation. As recently as February 2017, for example, militants fired rockets from Sinai into Eilat, an Israeli city just across the border. What’s more, Egyptian-Israeli security cooperation to fight the Islamic State in Sinai is a key part of the glue that has pulled the two countries closer in recent years, benefiting both sides and peace in the region as a whole.
There is good reason, however, to prevent today’s cooperation from becoming tomorrow’s headache. The longer Egypt’s additional forces remain in Sinai, especially now that the Islamic State appears to be under control, the more challenging it will become to revert to the limits imposed by the treaty.
Although there are no signs that Israel is experiencing buyer’s remorse about allowing additional Egyptian troops and weaponry into Sinai, other developments are more concerning. Most troubling is what Egypt has done without Israeli approval, including the construction of military bases and airfields. Some of these treaty violations, such as building a permanent camp to house Egypt’s 101st Battalion headquarters in Arish, are minor annoyances. But other installations constitute much more significant breaches. For example, Egypt has built three military airfields in Sinai, even though the treaty stipulates that only civilian airfields can be built. According to commercially available satellite images, one of these facilities, Meliz air base in Zone B, appears to include ammunition bunkers, underground fuel storage, and eight hardened aircraft shelters capable of servicing half a squadron of the Egyptian Air Force’s F-16s.
Similarly, the treaty states that in Zone A, just east of the Suez Canal, the Egyptian army is only entitled to operate “military installations and field fortifications” for one mechanized infantry division. Yet over the last decade, Egypt has built command headquarters in Sinai for the 2nd and 3rd Armies, as well as a headquarters for the Unified Command of the East of the Canal, which manages counterterrorism operations in the peninsula. According to Egyptian reporting, this complex at Jebel Um Hashiba is equipped with an operations center housed in a bunker 89 feet below the ground. Egypt also built a large naval facility in east Port Said, just inside Sinai. And the list goes on.
Israel is aware of these developments and has likely raised concerns with the MFO, which acts as the umpire of the peace treaty’s security provisions. But given the Israelis’ improved relationship with the Egyptians, they are reluctant to push too hard and have not lodged a formal complaint. (Israel, too, has periodically been cited by the MFO for exceeding its allowed deployments in the narrow limitation zone on its side of the border.) Yet an MFO official told me that even when the monitoring organization calls the Egyptians out, they do nothing to dismantle their military constructions. Egypt is creating facts on the ground in Sinai that will be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse.

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That Israel has been tolerant of these violations is understandable. Security cooperation, including Egyptian support in containing militant activity in Gaza, is part of a significant warming of relations between the two countries. In late 2021, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, the first public bilateral summit in nearly a decade. Soon afterward, EgyptAir ended a four-decade boycott of Israel and launched direct commercial flights from Cairo to Tel Aviv.
Yet the purpose of the peace treaty’s security annex isn’t to reflect current developments but to provide a firewall against an unexpected negative shift. If the risk of escalation during the political instability brought on by the Egyptian revolution was minimal, one key reason was that the security provisions of the treaty were more strictly enforced. In fact, they fulfilled their precise purpose: keeping the two sides’ militaries far apart from each other and providing Israel with strategic depth and early warning.
Egypt needs to hear from Israel, the United States, and the MFO that its security violations erode the peace agreement. While Egypt might be allowed to keep already-completed military construction in Sinai—for it is all but certain Cairo will refuse to dismantle these facilities—the United States and Israel should urge Egypt to desist from building additional bases violating the treaty. At the same time—and as the security situation in Sinai permits—the United States and Israel should urge Egypt to draw down its Sinai troop presence to levels consistent with the treaty.
Instead, Washington has been sending terrible signals that suggest it no longer has the interest or ability to maintain the security aspects of the historic peace treaty brokered at Camp David. Like clockwork, the U.S. Defense Department regularly advances an initiative to downsize the U.S. contingent of 452 troops in the MFO’s 1,154-strong international force. The U.S. contingent is the backbone of the MFO, and a significant downsizing would likely lead to other participating countries reducing their troops as well, or even pulling out. That could bring to an end to the MFO’s crucial role in monitoring, fact-finding, and facilitating communication between the parties in case bilateral channels break down. Robust U.S. involvement is essential—to ensure security provisions are adhered to, keep the MFO functioning smoothly, and protect the peace treaty that forms the bedrock of stability in the region.


David Schenker is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs during the Trump administration.

@Gomig-21

 

[Gomig-21]

@Gomig-21

Good read. They know the restrictions are very unfavorable to Egypt which is why they're not complaining much, as well as the fact that they don't want to poke the warming relations that have been developing. But the Israelis have never been known to shy down from bitching about anything, which makes it even more interesting. The bottom line is that even with the current deployment and 8 lousy hardened hangers for half a squadron of F-16s is nothing anyway. It's not even close to being able to mount a defense against an invasion (which is much more likely to happen than aggression from Egypt) let alone an offensive lol. You want to invade; you need to have 3 times the quantity of your enemy. So, this number of facilities and troops in the Sinai is really inconsequential.

 

[Gomig-21]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1554742905402757121

Pretty much the same concept SAAB offers in the Gripen as an export option. It's all touch screen which makes for an interesting ergonomic aspect. How well would it always work compared to actual switches and buttons etc., especially under heavy G-loads and hard maneuvers if the pilot needs to click onto something? I'm guessing like most of the super advanced aircraft out there today such as the F-15EX, Rafale, F-35 and Typhoon all have a lot of the access to the MFD screens right on the throttle itself. That would probably alleviate much of the difficulties associated with touch screens.

Still, I hope they don't touch this aircraft or go anywhere near it if it doesn't guarantee the meteor upon 1st delivery of the aircraft.

Kuwait was just cleared by the US to receive 60 AIM-120C-7/8 for the 28 Typhoons. Seems like a very low number but either way, they get an excellent A2A missile and the EAF cannot purchase this thing without an absolute guarantee of the meteor.

Kuwait cleared to buy AIM-120 missiles, guided bombs for its Eurofighter Typhoons.​