Egypt mulls JF-17 co-production and signs for more F-16s

 Jane's Defence Weekly
04-Mar-2010

 Mohammed Najib JDW Correspondent - Ramallah

    Cairo is in talks with Pakistan to begin joint production of JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft, Jane's understands from Egyptian defense industry sources.

    Even as the talks continued regarding JF-17 assembly in Egypt, however, the US Department of Defense announced on 2 March that an initial contract worth some USD213 million had been finalized with Lockheed Martin for Egypt's procurement of additional F-16C/D multirole fighters.

    If the deal for the single-engine JF-17 is approved, Egypt would become the first export client for the aircraft. The Pakistan Air Force formally inducted the type into service in February. Chengdu Aircraft Industries Group, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), began development of the aircraft in 1991, with Pakistan joining the program in 1995. The first aircraft to be manufactured at the Pakistani Aeronautical Complex (PAC) was rolled out on 24 November 2009.

    While the number of aircraft Egypt plans to acquire has not been revealed, the inclusion of local assembly in the deal suggests that the contract would be for at least 48 JF-17s.

    Brigadier General Mohammed Abdul Azim, a senior official at the government-owned Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI), told Jane's on 3 March that negotiations were continuing and that a final contract announcement was not expected for several weeks.

    The project has, however, been plagued by financial and technological obstacles, due in large part to Egypt's insistence that production take place in the country, one senior Arab defense source told Jane's .

    The contract with Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, is being handled by the US Air Force under the Foreign Military Sales program; 20 F-16C/D Block 52 multirole fighter aircraft are to be acquired.

    The US Congress was first notified of the F-16 deal in October 2009, with the proposed package including advanced targeting and reconnaissance pods. While the number of aircraft included in the sale has decreased from 24 to 20, the value of the program will also decrease from an initial cost estimate of USD3.2 billion.

    Egypt's new acquisitions would substantially modernize and update its aging inventory and allow the air force to begin replacing its F-4E Phantom, F-7B, Mirage 5 and MiG-21 combat aircraft.

    Modernization has been the watchword for all of Egypt's services for the last decade, as procurement and upgrades have taken a backseat to increasing the size and capabilities of the infantry force.

    Any joint venture would involve Egyptian assembly and manufacturing, in line with rules dictating partnerships that were laid out with the establishment of AOI in 1975. AOI has already indigenously produced Chinese K-8E Karakoram jet trainers.

    These new partnership avenues are being spurred on by regional security concerns, including Iran's nuclear program and piracy threats to merchant marine traffic transiting the Suez Canal.

    Lieutenant General Hamdi Wahiba, the director of AOI, said in comments to the official Middle East News Agency that Egypt was also investigating domestic production of an unmanned aerial vehicle. However, he declined to elaborate on the size, type and payload capabilities of the proposed drone.