Egypt wants Russian!

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10 years 11 months

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so they said they are considering spending up to $4 billion on Russian gear.
this comes at a time when their relations with the US is souring and Egypt wants to become a new Sultanate of sin.

but they havent stated what they would get.. but it seems likely something to reduce dependence on US parts especially after US limitations on arms transfers as of late.

Original post

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24 years 2 months

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And who will pay for the Russian kit?

Egypt's American kit is paid through $1 billion annual aid from American taxpayers.

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13 years 5 months

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Not sure this is really deserving of its own thread until there are additional sources and/or details. At the current juncture I don't see much potential for productive discussion here -- just a political slanging match.

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15 years 3 months

Posts: 6,441

so they said they are considering spending up to $4 billion on Russian gear.
this comes at a time when their relations with the US is souring and Egypt wants to become a new Sultanate of sin.

but they havent stated what they would get.. but it seems likely something to reduce dependence on US parts especially after US limitations on arms transfers as of late.

Two Things comes to my mind.
Egypt want Russia back into their fold.
And Egypt want to flip US the Finger.
It is a tactic of negotiation With US and at the same time looking for cheaper harware elsewhere, IMO look at Iraq.

Member for

10 years 6 months

Posts: 1,760

And who will pay for the Russian kit?

Egypt's American kit is paid through $1 billion annual aid from American taxpayers.


Aid was cut AFAIK.

Member for

10 years 11 months

Posts: 248

And who will pay for the Russian kit?

Egypt's American kit is paid through $1 billion annual aid from American taxpayers.

Saudi Arabia.

The Voice of Russia
By Andrey Fedyashin, 20 August, 2013.

Egypt should not be afraid of sanctions on the part of the West, or cancellation of financial and economic assistance from the EU or the US. Saudi Arabia and other oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf promise to cover all expenses.
http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_08_20/Who-is-to-pay-more-for-friendship-with-Egypt-4209/

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24 years 2 months

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Considering the biggest threat to Egypt is hunger and they spend half their budget on food imports, I very much doubt the military is going on a buying spree any time soon.

Member for

10 years 11 months

Posts: 248

Considering the biggest threat to Egypt is hunger and they spend half their budget on food imports, I very much doubt the military is going on a buying spree any time soon.

That is the whole point, it is US military aid or it.s replacement.

Member for

15 years 3 months

Posts: 6,441

That is the whole point, it is US military aid or it.s replacement.

Anyway, Chances are there will be some deals between Russia and Egypt, if not the sums that are printed in the press.
A Russian deligation are expected in Egypt NeXT week. Guess we'll see soon enough what's the outcome of this.

http://www.debka.com/article/23397/

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2013/11/05/Russians-send-in-big-guns-to-sell-arms-to-Egypt/UPI-57501383670234/

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/kerry-egypt-democracy-ties-united-states.html#

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12 years 7 months

Posts: 4,731

And who will pay for the Russian kit?

Egypt's American kit is paid through $1 billion annual aid from American taxpayers.

I dont think $1b is that big money if it keeps .Egypt relations in good terms with Israel and general stability in Middleast. instability means higher price of Oil.

http://www.freep.com/article/20131107/NEWS/311070162/John-Kerry-warns-Israel-violence-Mideast-peace-talks-fail

but we have to see who is going to fund this purchase as Saudi are furious with Obama.

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18 years 9 months

Posts: 13,432

Considering the biggest threat to Egypt is hunger and they spend half their budget on food imports, I very much doubt the military is going on a buying spree any time soon.

Where do you get your figures? According to the official budget, 6% of state spending went on subsidies other than petroleum, mostly for food. Just over 10% of imports are under the heading 'agricultural products', & 4% 'food industries'. The value of exports in these categories is a bit over half the value of imports.

Food consumption per head is so far above starvation level that obesity is a major health problem. The majority of Egyptians are overweight, as any visitor to the country can see. They weren't slim when I first visited in 1989, & they're bloody fat now.

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14 years 4 months

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Few years ago they have signed a big contract with the russians for Mi-17s, Tor, Buk, Pechora (upgrade), ZSU-23-4 upgrade (with Iglas) and probably other things that escape me, which was payed with EGYPTIAN money so the precedent is there. Imo, i would think with the military being in charge now, they know full well that whatever the americans gave them (F-16 , M1A1 etc.), was horribly downgraded and restricted to be near useless (other than propaganda imo, it looks "good" to have 240 F-16s and 1000 M1A1s, but no so good when it come to their capabilities). The technological gap between them and the israelis continuously grew in the last decades, so perhaps that strategical situation doesn't look too good to the egyptian leadership. This alleged 4 billion deal with the russians in the making (anything other than critical systems like SAMs and fighters would be a waste imo), and also that alleged JF-17 license production will help redress that to a more acceptable level.

Would be nice to see some egyptian MiG-35, Su-35 and S-300 in the near future.:)

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10 years 11 months

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Where do you get your figures? According to the official budget, 6% of state spending went on subsidies other than petroleum, mostly for food. Just over 10% of imports are under the heading 'agricultural products', & 4% 'food industries'. The value of exports in these categories is a bit over half the value of imports.

Food consumption per head is so far above starvation level that obesity is a major health problem. The majority of Egyptians are overweight, as any visitor to the country can see. They weren't slim when I first visited in 1989, & they're bloody fat now.

I guess that means the Egyptians won't be buying T-90s from the Russians.. they might be too fat to fit inside these tiny tanks.

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11 years 10 months

Posts: 980

They can have their Russian gear. I'm sure Washington would be happy to suspend the supply of spare parts. As an American taxpayer, I'm happy with an extra billion not going overseas.

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14 years 1 month

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You can save another $3.1bil yearly if you suspend military grant for Israel.

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18 years 2 months

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That one billion dollars to Egypt goes to paying American defense contractors. Egypt couldn't buy anything but American. I'm sure defense corporations and their lobbies don't like this news.

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10 years 11 months

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bad idea. egypt cannot take care of us airplane. most of the time it is on the ground. so that mean of course they cannot take care of russian one.

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13 years 10 months

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Rumor has it that a rich Gulf state is helping Egypt financially so they can go about purchasing new arms. Saudi Arabia is the first and has already came out publicly stating that they could support Egypt in such a case where the U.S. backs out without a problem. Other ME countries in the region are willingly to support them too. I'm guessing regional Leaders are concern about instability especially the hot mess in Iran-Syria at the moment. I'm guessing they think having a strong Egypt can keep Israel on its toes and maintain the balance among the ME.

I like the fact that Egypt continued to rely on Russian air-defense systems as their main arsenal to cover their skies. Even though the F16s are heavily downgraded lacking PGM capability and are bugged to be inferior in combat to her neighbors the recent purchase of TOR, BUK and Pechora-2M makes up for it and are not, thus making it highly effective on the field in case of conflict.

And also Egypt has been working closely with China in Aviation development such as Jet trainers and Surveillance Drones. The local production of Chinese ASN-209 UAVs is a good start boost their Industry. Now what becomes of the remaining F16 Block 52 that the U.S. are withholding from Egypt and the Harpoon anti-ship missiles remains to be seen. Can a player like China jump in and offer a Joint-Production of the JH-17 or even better tech transfer for C-705 missiles? If Indonesia can get a hold of missile tech from China then surely Egypt could do.

If anything $1 Billion USD annually is nothing if the greedy Egyptian Generals can find a way to get 2-3x more elsewhere but without any restrictions.

http://i.imgur.com/TWRPTgj.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/cbr5D4E.jpg?1

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14 years 1 month

Posts: 8,850

That one billion dollars to Egypt goes to paying American defense contractors. Egypt couldn't buy anything but American. I'm sure defense corporations and their lobbies don't like this news.
I, too, think that this defense grant was aimed to help the US and Israel exactly as much or more than Egypt. This all covered by average Joe from Nebraska.

Member for

11 years 10 months

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You can save another $3.1bil yearly if you suspend military grant for Israel.

I'll take it. I have long since been of the opinion that Israel should pay its own way in defense.

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14 years 1 month

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Israeli military spending has gone FAR beyond the "defense" level. Today they are the main offensive force in the region.