Egypt and Russia Carry Out Joint Air Defence Drills Amid Fast Growing Military Ties

Egyptian and Russian forces have carried out joint air defence exercises using new Russian weapons platforms, the latest of several drills between the two powers which have grown more frequent in recent years. The overthrow of Egypt’s Western backed islamist government in 2013 by popular protest led by the country’s armed forces led Cairo to seek closer defence ties with Moscow - and within weeks the African state had placed considerable orders for Russian hardware specifically focusing on the field of air defence. These included MiG-29M medium weight fighters, modern R-77 and R-27 air to air missiles, and new ground based systems including the S-300V4, BuK-M2 and Tor-M2. The S-300V4 entered service in the Russian armed forces in the early 2010s and is the most modern long range air defence system the country has yet exported - although it is not known to have directly taken part in the joint exercises.

BuK-M2 and Tor-M2 platforms both took part in joint air defence drills, with Russian and Egyptian crews taking turns to down air target drones each of which required just a single missile to neutralise. Both systems are known to have very high probabilities for successfully neutralising targets at short ranges. Dubbed the Arrow of Friendship, the exercise was the first of its kind to be carried out by the two states. Over 100 Russian personnel were present in Egypt to take part in the operation.

Egypt has emerged as a leading client for Russian hardware, not only as the largest foreign client for the MiG-29M and the only one for the S-300V4 but also purchasing other state of the art systems. Egypt’s armed forces plan to field 96 Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters, half of which will be deployed from the Navy’s two 20,000 ton Mistral Class carriers, making it by far the largest foreign operator of the class. Egypt is also reported to be currently negotiating the licence production of approximately 500 T-90 battle tanks to modernise its armoured divisions, and has installed Russian defence systems on its carriers in place of the standard French systems. The country has also entered negotiations for the acquisition of Su-35 air superiority fighters to modernise its fleet, reaching a preliminary agreement with Russia in March 2019, and is reported to have shown significant interest in acquiring lighter MiG-35 fighters in significant numbers to modernise its fleet and replace the American F-16 Fighting Falcons currently in service. Older variants of the F-16 have already begun to be phased out of service, as have the country’s F-4 Phantoms.