Egypt to buy 24 Eurofighter Jets, 4 Fremm Frigates from Italy

Africa, Middle East, News June 14, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Egypt is making its biggest military acquisition of advanced technology weapons since the end of World War II

The North African country is on its way to ramp up its aerial and naval defense with advanced surveillance systems from Italy.

Egypt has laid out plans to buy 24 Eurofighter Typhoon twin-engine multi-role fighter jets along with 30 M-346 training aircraft and four multi-role frigates with 20 patrol boats as well as one surveillance satellite.

Experts have estimated that the whole deal would cost around $10 billion to $12 billion from which about $3 billion would only be spent on the batch of 20 Eurofighter Typhoon jets.

Eurofighter Typhoon multinational twin-engine, multi-role fighter jet which was officially introduced in 2003 is jointly produced by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo aerospace engineering along with several other European defense manufacturing companies.

The aircraft is armed with a 27 mm Mauser BK-27 revolver cannon with 150 rounds, anti-ship missiles, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, bombs, and more. Italian aerospace engineering company Leonardo would be leading the deal with Egypt for the provision of 20 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets. Apart from several European and NATO states, the Eurofighter Typhoon has been successfully used in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait proving its worth in the Middle Eastern environment.

Along with the fighter jets, Egypt’s deal with Italy would also include the acquisition of Fremm frigates. Egypt already owns one Fremm multi-purpose frigate that was bought in 2015. Cairo now plans to add four more Fremm frigates into its naval fleet. Jointly produced by the French Naval Group and Italian Fincantieri, the Fremm frigates are currently being used in France, Italy, Egypt, Morocco, Indonesia, and the United States.

*^{Fincantieri Marine FREMM Frigate. (Image Credit: Fabius1975/Wikicommons)}*

The 142-meter-long ship falls under the medium-size category and requires a crew of 123 sailors and officers. Each ship is equipped with SAMM IT anti-aircraft missiles, one 127/64 mm cannon, two Otobreda 76 SR cannons as a short-range defense system As well a Teseo surface-to-surface missile system. The ship also holds the ability to launch MILAS ASW missiles and two SCLAR H missile launch systems.

Egypt is among the top ten importers of weapons and arms worldwide. The country spent around $22 billion on arms and weapons between 2010 and 2020. Since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took charge as the country’s president in 2013, defense spending has increased significantly, especially towards buying European weapons and defense technologies.

In December 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron declared he would not make arms sales to Egypt ’conditional’ on accounts of human rights violations, as many other western states demanded, because he did not want to ‘weaken Cairo’s ability to combat militancy in the region.’

Between 2013 and 2020, European countries exported or licensed at least $12.4bn worth of arms to Egypt, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). In 2021 alone, total German arms sales to Egypt amounted to $4.8bn.