Moving away from Egypt’s traditional reliance on Western, particularly American, military equipment is a political and financial decision. A dictatorial regime, poor human rights records, geopolitics and a cash-strapped country, Egypt does not have a choice other than purchasing cheap Chinese military products.
Egypt has signed an agreement with China to purchase J-10C fighter jets. The decision to acquire the J-10C, also known as the “Vigorous Dragon,” comes amidst speculation that Egypt is seeking alternatives to U.S. proposals for upgrading its F-16s to the F-16V variant.
Egypt currently operates American F-16s, Russian MiG-29s, Su-35 and French Rafales, reflecting its military diversification strategy.
The J-10C is a low-cost and underperforming aircraft, making it first a geopolitical decision for Egypt. The deal, reportedly signed on August 19, 2024, makes Egypt the second international customer for the J-10C, following Pakistan.
Declining Offers from the U.S. and Russia
The acquisition of the J-10C comes after Egypt declined offers from the United States and Russia to upgrade or replace its fleet. Egypt reportedly considered, but ultimately rejected, an American package for modernising its F-16s to the F-16V variant and acquiring new F-15s. Additionally, the country turned down Russian offers for MiG-29 fighters following negative experiences with the MiG-29M and Su-35 aircraft purchased from Russia in 2015.
Poor human rights records
Following President Mohamed Morsi’s military removal in 2013, the U.S. temporarily suspended military aid, delaying essential upgrades for Egypt’s ageing F-16s.
Despite pushing Egypt into a new era of tyranny, the United States continues to support el-Sisi, providing Cairo with roughly $1.3 billion annually in military aid. Since Cairo and Israel signed a peace treaty as a result of the Camp David Accords in 1978, the U.S. has, through taxpayer money, delivered over $50 billion in military and $30 billion in economic assistance to Egypt, with Washington citing the need to preserve “regional stability.” Coupled with weapons sales and other forms of defence cooperation, this unwavering assistance from Washington directly implicates the United States in the ruthless policies of Egypt’s dictatorship.
July 3 marks the 10th anniversary of the military coup that overthrew Egypt’s first democratically elected government and reinstalled a brutal dictatorship under Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The past decade witnessed the most repressive era in Egypt’s modern history as el-Sisi and the Egyptian military forcefully dragged the country back to authoritarian rule.
Eurofighter and F-15 deal scrapped
Egypt had also looked towards procuring 24 Eurofighter Typhoon multirole jets, 24 M346 jet trainers, and a surveillance satellite from Italy. However, that deal was also scuttled due to Egypt’s human rights record.
In 2022, the U.S. then offered Egypt F-15 fighter jets to kill its Su-35 acquisition plans. Unsurprisingly, Israel was keen on Egypt getting the Boeing F-15 Eagle fighter jets and even tried to persuade the United States to approve the sale of the aircraft to Cairo as part of Jerusalem’s efforts to improve relations between Cairo and Washington.
Egypt hopes to acquire J-31
Egyptian Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Mahmoud Fuad Abdel Gawad and his Chinese counterpart General Chang Dingqiu met in Beijing to discuss the possible transfer of J-10C and J-31 fighter jets as soon as possible.
The Egyptian Air Force is considering acquiring Chinese J-31 fighter jets because Egypt cannot acquire Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth jets.
J-10C aircraft, cheap and nasty
Reverse-engineered from Israeli Lavi aircraft, the Chengdu J-10C, in service with the Chinese Air Force (PLAAF) since 2004, is a multirole fighter equipped with a single engine, delta wings, and a canard configuration.
The J-10C is a multi-role fighter jet equipped with air-to-air and air-to-ground weaponry. It is notably lacking in air superiority missions. It is powered by a Russian Lyulka-Saturn AL-31FN turbofan engine, later fitted with a locally made WS-10 engine.
While Russian engines are smoky and Chinese engines underperform, none of the Chinese military hardware gets rid of engine problems.
Riddled with engine problems and fitted with an underperforming Chinese engine, the aircraft is priced at $45 million, compared to the F-16’s cost of approximately $70 million for the latest variants (F-16V). This cost advantage and financial and political hurdles in acquiring the Eurofighter Typhoon make it an easier choice for Egypt.
The J-10C is comparable to American-made F-16 Block 50 aircraft. The Chinese J-10C is a fourth-generation multirole combat aircraft equipped with the infrared-guided 20km range PL-10 missile, a short-range air-to-air missile, and the semi-active radar-guided 80km PL-12 air-to-air missile, which China developed.
China still depends on Russia for guidance kits of the R-77 missile, which are retrofitted into the PL-12 missile.
The PL-10 missile, a license-built Italian APSIDE missile that China received before the Tiananmen Square massacre and later developed by the People’s Republic of China, is a short-range air-to-air missile.
Chinese J-10C has limited service life compared to American F-16V, due to its steel-aluminium airframe design and high engine maintenance in China.
Egypt has no choice if it wants Chinese money
This development also reflects the growing economic and strategic ties between Egypt and China. China’s participation in the Egypt Air Show in El Alamein is part of its broader effort to strengthen its presence in the Middle East and North Africa. China’s military-industrial influence in the region has significantly expanded, supported by its growing economic relationships, mainly through energy imports.
BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Egyptian membership in BRICS is poised to help increase Egypt’s exports by integrating it more into the Belt and Road project and economic blocs led by BRICS countries, i.e. the Eurasian Economic Union and Mercosur. Egypt’s exports to the BRICS countries increased 5.3% in 2022, reaching $4.9 billion. This figure is expected to double. That would also ensure Egypt’s access to strategic commodities, such as grain, as the BRICS countries produce a third of the world’s grain. Russia is the largest grain exporter, while Egypt is the largest importer globally.
Conclusion
Fighter jet contracts are very complicated. They tend to forge closer relations between parts of the militaries and industries of the respective countries for decades (for spare parts, training, maintenance, and the like).
Since joining the BRICS, UAE has been persuaded to purchase Chinese L-15 trainers, and Egypt has now purchased J-10C.
Not only does America attach strings to defence procurement, but China also has strings attached to its BRICS finances. Chinese military hardware procurement is the string China attaches to BRICS funds.
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