Swordsmyth
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According to a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report released in March, Egypt is now the third largest arms importer in the world (after India and Saudi Arabia). Indeed, in the five years since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president, the country's arms imports have increased by a whopping 215 percent. During that period, Egypt signed major deals with a diverse array of suppliers, including the United States, Russia, France and Germany. The purchases have significantly upgraded the Egyptian arsenal, offering Cairo capabilities it previously lacked, including amphibious assault ships.
Although the country is embroiled in a difficult counterinsurgency against Islamists in the Sinai Peninsula, most of its recent purchases, including surface-to-air missiles and major warships, are completely unsuited to Sinai fighting. In fact, few of the recent arms deals address the army's needs in the Sinai, where Egyptian troops are largely waging a campaign with pre-existing capabilities and equipment. If anything, Egyptian forces fighting on the peninsula have suffered from a lack of resources. To a great extent, the Egyptian infantry conducting a majority of the fighting in the Sinai lacks advanced body armor and individual fighting gear amid a wider dearth of effective equipment, training and supplies. In terms of vehicles, the army has deployed older and more vulnerable M-60A3 tanks on the peninsula, while its more advanced — and much better protected — M1 Abrams tanks have remained outside the theater. Coincidentally, Egypt didn't even buy some of the equipment that is most suited to its battle in the Sinai, the mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles. Instead, the United States began giving hundreds of them to Cairo free of charge in early 2016 as part of the Pentagon's Excess Defense Articles program.
Aside from Israel and Saudi Arabia, none of Egypt's immediate neighbors come close to matching the country's military power. And Saudi Arabia hardly represents a realistic military threat, especially because the kingdom has provided significant economic aid to Cairo to bolster al-Sisi's government since the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. The long history of conflict between Egypt and Israel might give Cairo reason to maintain a robust military defense to guard against a potential downturn in relations with Israel, but such an eventuality appears remote at present. After all, Egypt's relations with Israel have manifestly improved under the al-Sisi government, and Israel has even provided indirect assistance to the Egyptian army in its Sinai operations.
More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/egypt-goes-arms-spending-spree
Iran or Turkey might be the target.
Any other ideas?
Although the country is embroiled in a difficult counterinsurgency against Islamists in the Sinai Peninsula, most of its recent purchases, including surface-to-air missiles and major warships, are completely unsuited to Sinai fighting. In fact, few of the recent arms deals address the army's needs in the Sinai, where Egyptian troops are largely waging a campaign with pre-existing capabilities and equipment. If anything, Egyptian forces fighting on the peninsula have suffered from a lack of resources. To a great extent, the Egyptian infantry conducting a majority of the fighting in the Sinai lacks advanced body armor and individual fighting gear amid a wider dearth of effective equipment, training and supplies. In terms of vehicles, the army has deployed older and more vulnerable M-60A3 tanks on the peninsula, while its more advanced — and much better protected — M1 Abrams tanks have remained outside the theater. Coincidentally, Egypt didn't even buy some of the equipment that is most suited to its battle in the Sinai, the mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles. Instead, the United States began giving hundreds of them to Cairo free of charge in early 2016 as part of the Pentagon's Excess Defense Articles program.
Aside from Israel and Saudi Arabia, none of Egypt's immediate neighbors come close to matching the country's military power. And Saudi Arabia hardly represents a realistic military threat, especially because the kingdom has provided significant economic aid to Cairo to bolster al-Sisi's government since the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. The long history of conflict between Egypt and Israel might give Cairo reason to maintain a robust military defense to guard against a potential downturn in relations with Israel, but such an eventuality appears remote at present. After all, Egypt's relations with Israel have manifestly improved under the al-Sisi government, and Israel has even provided indirect assistance to the Egyptian army in its Sinai operations.
More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/egypt-goes-arms-spending-spree
Iran or Turkey might be the target.
Any other ideas?
