Why Egypt Is Investing In Air Combat Strategies?

Last updated on February 6th, 2021 at 08:40 am

Aiming toward building bilateral capabilities, Egypt and France have decided to launch joint-air exercises.  There are confirmed reports of the use of much multi-mission combat aircraft, at the Egypt airbase.

An Egyptian military spokesperson has confirmed that Cairo intends to strengthen its military prowess, by engaging with countries that can help it do so. Taking to the social media, it said that training exercise with France is a part of its planned framework for enhancing its armed forces. 

Egypt also intends to spend time and effort on theoretical know-how gathering. For this, it is already engaging in a series of lectures aimed at the standardization of combat concepts and the exchange of training expertise, in addition to the implementation of training flights on the operational tasks of the participating forces.

Egypt has been working seriously to develop more muscle to protect its interest at sea.  Earlier in the year, it conducted joint maritime training exercises in the Mediterranean with Greek forces, with the participation of the Egyptian frigate Taba and the Greek warship HS HYDRA F-452. 

Egypt has also been at the heart of the ongoing energy dispute with Turkey. It is therefore seeing itself allying with those nations that have the same agenda- to protect sovereignty and right to their own natural reserves. Egypt’s desire to do such exercises is natural, especially with nations of equal interests like France, UAE, Greece, and Cyprus. 

Egypt has been a hot topic on the Turkish menu due to its recent discovery of natural gas reserves.  Therefore, Turkey’s appetite for hydrocarbon exploration is increasing by the day. However, Egypt has already secured its position entering itself into the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum comprising Jordon, Italy, the Palestinian Authority, and itself.  Past experiences with Turkey have led to belief that airstrike and control via military action is always a possibility for Egypt and its neighboring nations. 

As focus from the Middle East shifts over energy needs, the Eastern Mediterranean nations are working in unison to defeat a common enemy- Turkey.