Swifts of the Nile

For decades the Arab Republic of Egypt Air Force has maintained a strategy of procuring new fighters from different sources. One of the latest examples of this is the MiG-29M/M2, as Babak Taghvaee discovers.

EGYPTIAN MiG-29M/M2

MiG-29M/M2s destined for the EAF conduct their first flights at Lukhovitsy. This is two-seat MiG-29M ‘811’ carrying a full complement of external fuel tanks.
Piotr Butowski

WHILE ARMS acquisition from two or even three countries is an expensive policy, it has permitted the Arab Republic of Egypt Air Force (EAF) and the wider armed forces to survive sanctions on arms imposed by different American and Soviet governments. The military coup that ousted President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, replacing him with Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, led to an unofficial arms sanction imposed by the US government.

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