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Egypt Air Force
As of 1989, the Egyptian air force had more than 500 combat
aircraft and 30,000 personnel, of which 10,000 were conscripts. Its
front-rank fighters consisted of sixty-seven multimission F-16 A/Cs
and thirty-three F-4Es from the United States, as well as sixteen
Mirage 2000s from France. A large inventory of older MiG aircraft
(some of which were Chinese versions assembled in Egypt) backed up
the more modern fighters. The air force had fitted many of the MiGs
with advanced Western electronics, including radars, jamming
equipment, and Sidewinder and Matra air-to-air missiles. The Air
Defense Force exercised operational control of about 135 MiG
interceptors, although their aircraft and personnel remained part
of the air force. Egypt also planned to exchange crude oil for
fifty Pucara light ground-attack fighters from Argentina. The air
force operated seventy-two combat helicopters and a number of
electronic-monitoring, maritime-patrol, reconnaissance, and earlywarning aircraft. Some of these aircraft were capable of detecting
low-flying targets at great distances (see
table 14, Appendix).
When the Soviet Union became Egypt's principal arms supplier in
the 1950s, it also played a preeminent role in advising and
training the Egyptian air force. Much of the Soviet influence on
the air force's structure and organization still prevailed in the
1980s, although training and tactics were affected by the
changeover to Western equipment and the advanced training provided
by the United States and other Western countries. Flying units were
organized into air brigades that were headquartered at a single
base. Brigades officially consisted of three squadrons that each
had sixteen to twenty aircraft. Many brigades, however, had only
two squadrons. With its headquarters at Heliopolis near Cairo, the
air force had about seventeen principal air bases out of a total of
forty major installations, as well as reserve and auxiliary bases.
After the June 1967 War and again after the October 1973 War,
Egypt had to rebuild totally its air force. Only a few hours after
the June 1967 War began, Israel had virtually wiped out the
Egyptian air force. The government later tried and imprisoned the
commander of the air force and a few other officers and purged many
other senior officers. The combat efficiency of the air force,
which had dropped almost to nil as a consequence of the war and its
aftermath, was restored by renewed deliveries from the Soviet Union
and intensified Soviet-led training of pilots and crews.
When Egypt initiated the October 1973 War, the air force was
much better prepared for its mission. Egypt's air reconnaissance
along the Suez Canal and its air strikes against Israeli strong
points provided essential support to the ground forces that were
crossing the canal. The air force then shifted to Israeli targets
in Sinai and engaged in frequent dogfights over Suez and Port Said.
Despite the courage and competence of the pilots, Egypt's air force
suffered the loss of more than 200 aircraft in eighteen days of
combat. Egypt and Syria together lost an estimated twelve aircraft
for every aircraft lost by Israel.
When the 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. 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, was to begin 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. With the cooperation of Chinese and Western
manufacturers, Egypt developed a major domestic industry that
assembled aircraft and produced parts
(see Defense Industry
, this
ch.).
Data as of December 1990
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