US Approves $554M Support Package for Egypt’s Navy
Dan Arkin
| 05/08/2019
US-made Ambassador MK III Fast Missile Craft in service with the Egyptian Navy (By AHMED XIV, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50642789)
The US State Department approved the potential sale of a $554 million package of technical support for the Egyptian Navy.
The package calls for technical and maintenance support of various US-made ships in the Egyptian fleet. The contract mentions that the sale is essential to “maintain Egypt’s national security, regional stability and the free flow of worldwide commerce via the Suez Canal.”
Egypt’s Navy is the sixth-largest in the world, measured by the number of ships, and is charged with the protection of the coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It maintains two fleets, one for each of the seas, and includes ships, aircraft, submarines, amphibious craft, and patrol forces.
Recent hostile actions by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman have caused concerns in Egypt. Military strategists are seeking to reinforce security in the Red Sea for better protection of maritime movement through Egypt’s Suez Canal.
The request by Egypt calls for material and support of the country’s four Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, its four fast missile craft, its four mine-hunter ships, and nine fast patrol craft.
Egypt has other maritime craft made by France, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Poland, China, Britain, Italy, and the Soviet Union, as well as several craft made in Egypt.
[Source: UPI]
US-made Ambassador MK III Fast Missile Craft in service with the Egyptian Navy (By AHMED XIV, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50642789)
The US State Department approved the potential sale of a $554 million package of technical support for the Egyptian Navy.
The package calls for technical and maintenance support of various US-made ships in the Egyptian fleet. The contract mentions that the sale is essential to “maintain Egypt’s national security, regional stability and the free flow of worldwide commerce via the Suez Canal.”
Egypt’s Navy is the sixth-largest in the world, measured by the number of ships, and is charged with the protection of the coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It maintains two fleets, one for each of the seas, and includes ships, aircraft, submarines, amphibious craft, and patrol forces.
Recent hostile actions by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman have caused concerns in Egypt. Military strategists are seeking to reinforce security in the Red Sea for better protection of maritime movement through Egypt’s Suez Canal.
The request by Egypt calls for material and support of the country’s four Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, its four fast missile craft, its four mine-hunter ships, and nine fast patrol craft.
Egypt has other maritime craft made by France, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Poland, China, Britain, Italy, and the Soviet Union, as well as several craft made in Egypt.
[Source: UPI]
