Assuming good faith, things don't need lies from the likes of you. Firstly, all airport development projects in the 1980s were funded by American grants, and Orascom, owned by Naguib Sawiris, was responsible for implementing the contracts through these American grants. This practice continues to this day, even the Chinook helicopter deal. The maintenance facility upgrade was carried out through a contract to purchase 12 new Chinooks as remaining stock. Furthermore, you are quite ignorant; you don't know that Egypt obtained spare parts and weapons, many of which came from surplus American arms sales through the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) (
https://samm.dsca.mil).
Egypt received not only spare parts and engines for surplus American F-16s, but also thousands of missiles and complete sets of ammunition, including 20mm rounds, at a cost exceeding the transportation fees and practically free.
You lack complete information regarding both the F-16 upgrade solutions and Egyptian armament in general. Let me give you a very simple example. Any Egyptian military review or inspection is conducted through Military Intelligence and Military Security, and they are the ones who determine what is displayed. The Americans have often complained that the Chinese developed Egypt's electronic warfare depot, the ALQ-131, in 2009. No matter how much information is disseminated about the presence of weapons, ammunition, and weapons development programs, narrow-minded people are only convinced by what they see with their own eyes. It's as if the secrets of a nation's armament should be seen by children and teenagers. Let me give you a very simple example: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia finalized a deal for Russian SU-35 fighter jets for Saudi Arabia, and they were delivered before his death. They remain in storage and have not been announced to this day. These things are unbelievable, but who said that a nation's armament should be announced? One of the Egyptian Air Force commanders was a Mirage F1 fighter pilot, and it was never publicly announced that Egypt possessed them. There were rumors circulating that they were retired from service in 2013.
The same denial that some use regarding the Meteor missiles was also applied to the French SCALP missiles. Initially, the US banned these missiles, but France responded by directly supplying Egypt with 25 free missiles from French Air Force stockpiles. Then, another 25 were delivered. After France assigned a French company to manufacture the components that were previously made in the US, it delivered the 50 missiles that Egypt had contracted for.
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The Israelis themselves are now reporting that a J-10C fighter jet landed at El-Goura Airport on the Egyptian-Israeli border. I will publish the full article in a subsequent reply. Egypt has multiple solutions for installing modern BVR missiles on its fighter jets. Egypt circumvents US restrictions through various devious methods, and the Americans ignore this. Even Lockheed Martin knows that the Egyptians have been modifying their F-16s for years, but they cannot disclose this for a very simple reason: to ensure they receive payments for spare parts and other US-made weapons supplied to the Egyptian Air Force. Even the US government and the Department of Defense are fully aware that the Egyptian Air Force possesses J-10C fighters, and it has long been stated that Egypt's condition for this is... Acquiring Egyptian fighter jets meant that Egypt would produce the PL-15 missile locally under license from China. Once the Chinese agreed, the deal was finalized.
To give a very simple example: Before the October War, Egypt severed political relations with the United States after the 1967 war. A major reason for this was that American fighter jets took off from Libyan airfields on the morning of June 5, 1967, and attacked Egyptian airfields. This prompted Israel to retaliate by attacking Egyptian airfields an hour later, resulting in massive losses for the Egyptian Air Force, particularly aircraft stationed in the Nile Delta and western Egypt.
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Before the October War, in 1972, Egypt contacted British arms dealers and made what was perhaps the strangest request in history: two F-4 fighter jets, fully armed and equipped with ammunition. Despite the unusual nature of the request, the British responded within 48 hours, and the deal was completed. Meanwhile, the US Navy was reporting the downing of Phantom fighters in Vietnam at inflated numbers, then secretly selling the aircraft to customers in Asia and Europe who already possessed F-4s at low prices, benefiting the American military. Egypt obtained these aircraft. The two aircraft were tested against fortifications Egypt had constructed in a canal, similar to the Bar Lev Line, using one-ton American bombs to determine their effectiveness against the line. Egyptian pilots also used the aircraft to conduct sorties against MiG-21 fighters and practice countering them.
Therefore, some naively believe that Egypt can meet its essential needs through indirect means, thus circumventing what some consider forbidden and prohibited.
Consequently, it is not in Egypt's interest to reveal its full capabilities because, quite simply, the West arms Israel with weapons that guarantee its superiority, as they imagine, to prevent further arming of Israel.
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