The mystery of intricacies in foreign policy ties between the leading countries of the Middle East and Western Asia practically knows no borders. What are the bilateral relations between one of the leading countries of the Eastern Mediterranean - Egypt and the regional superpower of Western Asia - Saudi Arabia. Before the collapse of the USSR, Egypt was the main Middle Eastern strategic partner of our state, similar to the Syrian Arab Republic, except for the period of the Camp David Agreement, when the Sudanese with a pro-American ideology Anwar al-Sadat was at the helm of Egypt. Turning away from military support from the Soviet Union in 1972, Sadat doomed the country to yet another humiliating defeat in the Yom Kippur War (the 4th Arab-Israeli War), when Israeli ground forces approached Cairo within 100 km. Later, Sadat's visit to the Jerusalem Knesset followed, as well as consultations on a peace settlement at Camp David, which finally "killed" Egypt's chances of any revenge, and also identified Israel as a small regional superpower.
In October 1981, Hosni Mubarak came to power, and already in 1982, a gradual restoration of relations with the USSR began. From that moment on, Egypt's foreign policy became more balanced, and until now is based not on blindly following the geopolitical interests of the superpowers, but solely on its own economic and military-strategic benefits in the region. A similar policy of the Egyptian leadership is being pursued in cooperation with neighboring states, the main of which can be considered Saudi Arabia.
As you know, the Egyptian Armed Forces are partially involved in the confrontation with the Yemeni People's Liberation Movement "Ansar-Allah", which is based on the Yemeni Houthis, supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Egyptians are operating as part of an operation against the Houthis by the forces of the "Arabian coalition" and directly by Saudi Arabia. Support for Saudi Arabia's actions in Yemen by the Egyptian Armed Forces is ongoing even despite the anti-Saudi protests and rallies held at the KSA embassy in 2015, and even despite the fact that they were organized by the Egyptian special services. Apparently, in a short period of time, the vector of thinking of the Egyptian leadership managed to change to a diametrically opposite one. What could have influenced the opinion of Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi's entourage so quickly? Especially considering the fact that Russia unequivocally condemned the violent actions of the "Arabian gang" against the Houthis and pointed to the direct participation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the training and logistical support of ISIS. Naturally, nothing more than large Saudi capital, which the latter are actively pouring into the Egyptian economy to keep the al-Sisi regime as a very formidable and loyal ally in North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.
As it became known on May 12, 2016 from the resource "MIGnews", Riyadh transferred more than $ 2 billion to the Central Bank of Egypt to support various sectors of the economy to strengthen its position before the IMF during negotiations on providing Egypt with a multi-billion dollar loan. And such a gesture by the Saudis certainly cannot be considered a charity event, because a month earlier, on April 15, 2016, during the visit of King of the KSA Salman ibn Abdul-Aziz Al Saud to Egypt, Cairo handed over two disputed islands to the "Near East Asian superpower" - Tiran and Sanafir, possession which provides a number of strategic advantages in the Red Sea. In other words, any military-political “inflammation” of Saudi Arabia, including the conflict with the Yemeni Houthis, will certainly negatively affect the flow of funds into the Egyptian economy, which is why we are seeing support for the “Arabian coalition”.
It would seem that such a position of Cairo should completely deny any strategic interaction with the Russian Federation, which does not support aggression against Yemen, but here the ARE quickly balanced, finding a foothold in another successfully turned up military conflict affecting the entire Middle East - the Syrian campaign. Even at the very beginning of the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces against ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other Islamist terrorist groups in Syria, in October 2015, official Cairo fully supported the Russian Federation, stating that this would ultimately lead to the eradication of Islamist sentiments in the entire region … This firm position was expressed against the backdrop of harsh criticism of the then IS sponsors - Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The fact is unpleasant for the Arabian "dogs", but due to the need to maintain at least some control over North Africa, they had to swallow it and try to "digest". Cairo received military-technical dividends from Russia unprecedented since the Six Day War and the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
If back in 2014, the Egyptian Armed Forces received from the Russian Federation the S-300VM Antey-2500 anti-aircraft missile system, the Buk-M2E military air defense missile systems, and in 2015 the auxiliary equipment for them with the simultaneous conclusion of a major contract for the purchase of 50 deck attack helicopters Ka-52 "Katran" for Mistral helicopter carriers, we recently learned about a much more significant contract, which seriously affects the position of Egypt as a powerful regional player.
As reported by the TASS: Military & Defense news agency, a 2 billion contract was signed between Egypt and the Russian Federation for the supply of 52 highly maneuverable MiG-29 multipurpose fighters. According to a number of sources, we are talking about 46 single-seat MiG-29M (MiG-33) and 6 double MiG-29M2 (MiG-35). Almost nothing is reported about the options intended for Egyptian vehicles, but given that the pilots of the Egyptian Air Force have already tested the highest maneuverable characteristics of the French Rafale multipurpose fighters, Russian aircraft should receive the most modern versions of avionics, as well as power plants. The most advanced and powerful TRDDF RD-33MK "Sea Wasp" with an afterburner thrust of 9000 kgf (total thrust is 18000 kgf) can be installed as a control system, giving the two-seat and single-seat versions a thrust-to-weight ratio of 1.03-1.1. The MiG-33/35 will not be inferior to the Rafals, but the maximum speed in afterburner mode with a pair of R-77 (RVV-AE) will reach 2200 - 2300 km / h, which is 400-500 km / h faster than that of " Rafaley ".
The cockpit display equipment will include a standard set of 3 wide-format vertically oriented color MFIs for displaying information received from on-board radar, laser detection detection systems (SOLO), optical-electronic sighting and navigation systems (OEPrNK) OLS-UEM and attack missile detection stations (SOAR), as well as tactical data transmitted from other units and information on the state of various aircraft flight systems and the presence of weapons on the suspensions. Pilots of two-seater modifications will have the opportunity to change the range of tasks performed due to the complete duplication of MFI functions.
Proceeding from the fact that the on-board radars of the Egyptian versions of the Rafale F3 (Rafale-EM / DM) RBE-2AA are built on the basis of the most modern and "energy" AFAR with more than 1000 transmit-receive modules, our manufacturer could have machines with similar radar parameters were ordered, - FGA-29 and "Zhuk-AE" with increased target detection range with EPR of 1 m2 increased to 160-180 km. At the same time, it is most likely to be equipped with an already tested on a flying laboratory and fully completed modification of the FGA-29. This version of the "Beetle" has a smaller number of PPM (680) antenna array and a smaller diameter (575 mm), but the throughput due to the modern digital computing base has remained at the same level as, for example, the Irbis-E radar (tracking 30 and capture 8 targets simultaneously). The detection range of typical targets "fighter" is from 100 to 120 km, which is 20% less than that of "Rafalevskaya" RBE-2AA, but quite acceptable in the conditions of advanced optical-electronic sighting systems.
It is known that the Egyptian MiG-29M / M2 will receive sets of unique container countermeasures stations MSP-418K. Small-sized items mounted on the Falcrum's underwing suspension points have a mass of 160 kg and are capable of creating complex imitation interference in the centimeter wavelength ranges G, X and J. Under the radio-transparent fairings of the container of this complex, there are RER antennas and emitting elements of electronic countermeasures. The RER antennas detect the radiation source, analyze the parameters of the irradiating signal, and then set certain characteristics of the jamming signal with imitation of false marks that have a signature identical to the ESR of the jammer. The jamming sectors in the front and rear hemispheres of the MSP-418K container are 90 degrees in the azimuth and 60 degrees in elevation planes. The sensitivity of the receiving antennas of the MSP-418K complex is comparable to the parameters of the antennas of the most powerful ground-based complex of executive electronic intelligence (IRTR) 1L222 "Avtobaza" and is -85 dB / W.
In addition to simulation, the coherent digital signal processing module built into the MSP-418K can generate noise interference, as well as complex interference with a programmable structure. From the microwave switching matrices, the interference signal is transmitted to the amplifier blocks of the G-I-band and H-J-band transmitter with a gain of more than 45 dB (the power of the amplifiers exceeds 100 W). The MSP-418K stations are capable of countering the widest range of enemy radar and radio-electronic means, including sea, ground and air surveillance radars, multifunctional tracking, illumination and guidance radars, as well as active and semi-active radar homing heads. The built-in electronic countermeasures station “SPECTRA” installed on the Egyptian “Raphael” are capable of setting up the electronic countermeasures at frequencies from 2 to 40 GHz. "SPECTRA" is based on a 3-sided emitting AFAR with a 120-degree field of view for each antenna array, which indicates the best parameters in terms of targeting interference. But with regard to the creation of the types of interference available for the MSP-418K, Thales did not report.
As a result, we have the fact that 2-3 times more expensive Rafals are less attractive for Egypt than the newest Russian MiG29-M / M2, which is confirmed by orders: 24 Rafal and 50-52 MiG-29M. As we can see, Egypt is slowly but surely strengthening its military-political instruments of influence on the region, and today is trying not to get involved in major military conflicts in the Middle East. His participation in the Yemeni company is only insignificant, and his economic dependence on Saudi Arabi and its satellites is only partial, and the most interesting thing is temporary. How Egypt will position itself in 5-10 years is still unknown to anyone, but looking at the composition of its Air Force, it becomes clear that in the coming future Cairo will be able, in a rather tough form, inconvenient for its neighbors, to put forward demands with a swing for regional domination like in North Africa,and throughout Asia Minor.
PERCENTAGE OF TRANSITIONAL AIRCRAFT AND LONG AIR CLEARANCE WILL MAKE NEIGHBORS ALARM
If we look at the composition of the Egyptian Air Force from the point of view of the ratio of the promising transitional generation tactical aviation and the early generation aircraft fleet, including the 4th, we will see the following picture. After the delivery of 52 MiGs and 24 Raphales, the Egyptian Air Force will have 76 multi-role fighters of the 4 ++ generation. On a regional scale, these vehicles will gain undeniable superiority over the Israeli 102 F-16I "Sufa" and partially over the 50 F-35I "Adir" purchased today. Likewise, the transition-generation Egyptian fighters will establish parity with the 70 Saudi tactical F-15S and 72 EF-2000 Typhoons. And here it is necessary to judge not by the number of Egyptian aircraft, of which there are less than Israeli and Saudi aircraft, but by their performance characteristics (especially MiGs), which are much higher among the Egyptians.
Then there are 15 Egyptian fighters of the Mirage-2000EM modification and about 211 F-16C / D Block 40, which can be safely attributed to the 4+ generation. These "tactics" are equipped with conventional airborne radars RDM (on Mirages) and AN / APG-68 (V) 5 (on "Falcon Block 40") with a slotted antenna array, but they have full-fledged modes of operation for ground and sea targets, including terrain mapping. In medium and long-range air battles, these fighters can still "compete" with the Saudi "Strike Needles" and "Typhoons", as well as with the Israeli F-16C Block 52. For example, the Egyptian Air Force has purchased huge arsenals of MICA-EM / IR medium-range air-to-air missiles. These missiles are about 1.5 times more maneuverable than the AIM-120C-7 / D missiles, and therefore may well bring victory to the less modern Egyptian Mirage-2000EM in the confrontation with the fighters of its neighbors. So, the number of fighters of the generation "4 + / ++" is about 300 fighters, considering that 30 F-16A and 6 two-seat F-16B could also be upgraded according to the scheme implemented today in relation to the Taiwanese F-16A Block 20.
The remaining percentage is accounted for by fighter-bombers of the 2nd and 3rd generations, which include: 25-29 F-4E "Phantom-II", 50 fighter-interceptors, reconnaissance aircraft and UBS modifications of the MiG-21MF / PFM / R / UM, about 30 F-7 multirole fighters (licensed Chinese version of the MiG-21) and up to 55 Mirage-5-E2 / SDE multirole fighters. The latter belong to purely strike tactical reconnaissance fighters for working on ground targets and conducting high-altitude reconnaissance near the theater of operations. "Phantoms" in this row of the Egyptian Air Force can be considered favorites. Possessing high speed characteristics (up to 2200 km / h with weapons on suspensions), a practical ceiling of 21.5 km, as well as the ability to integrate modern anti-radar missiles and air-to-air missiles AIM-120C AMRAAM, F-4E can perform high-altitude interception of stratospheric targets and suppression of enemy air defense. The Phantoms are also capable of performing the functions of an attack aircraft, using NURS containers and tactical air-to-ground missiles of the AGM-65 Maverick type.
As a result, we have an aircraft fleet of 300 modern multi-role fighters of the transitional generation (65% of the Air Force) and 160 machines of older generations (35% of the total number), which will be put into service by 2020. The total number of 460 fighters will be 160 units higher than the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force and 117 units of the Israel Air Force. At the same time, the percentage of aircraft of the "plus" generation among the Saudis barely reaches 43%, and in Hel Haavir (after receiving 50 F-35A "Adir") - about 90-95%, including 75 updated under the program "Barak 2020" F- 16C / D, significantly inferior to a hundred F-16I "Sufa".
There is an actively strengthening regional small superpower, which after 2020 may become a concrete "counterweight" for any military-political process in the Middle East. By this time, Turkish TF-X fighters will not have time to get on the wing, and Ankara itself, according to recent events, is neatly and confidently changing its vector towards Russia. For influence in the region, one fighter aircraft fleet may not be enough, and therefore it is worth evaluating the Egyptian Air Force in the field of AWACS necessary to coordinate probable air battles and strike operations against sea and ground targets.
Judging by information from various sources, the Egyptian Air Force is armed with 7 turboprop aircraft AWACS E-2C "Hawkeye", which are undergoing an upgrade program to the version "Hawkeye-2000". "Hokai" are ideal for a small Middle Eastern theater of war, and the labor intensity of their maintenance is several times less than, for example, 5 huge Arabian E-3A "Sentry". The modernization of the Egyptian E-2C version of the "Group 0" affected, first of all, the radar complex of the aircraft: the radar of the AN / APS-138 "wave channel" design will be replaced by more modern AN / APS-145. In the “tie-in target trail” mode (tracking on the aisle), this station can operate simultaneously on 2,000 air targets and provide accurate target designation for 40 targets simultaneously. The long-range capabilities of the decimeter radar are significantly increased due to the deceleration of the rotation of the radar fairing with the antenna and the simultaneous decrease in the frequency of the pulses of the emitting mode. The detection range of a strategic bomber is 650-680 km, of a 4th generation fighter with suspensions - 430-550 km. The training of only 3 operators of the radar is carried out faster and better than the 16 operators of the Sentry. The modernization of 7 aircraft is carried out by specialists from the Northrop Grumman development corporation and representatives of the US Navy.
Note that the number of Hawkai purchased by the Egyptian Air Force clearly corresponds to the size of the Egyptian fighter fleet: 7 E-2Cs simultaneously launched into the air can direct 280 fighters at enemy targets (40 for each Hawaiian), which means that Cairo is considering different combat situations. actions where practically the entire tactical aircraft fleet raised into the air could be needed.
Hawkeye-2000 has another very important feature. The modernized avionics are built around the new high-performance on-board computer Model 940 from Raytheon, which became the basis for the installation of the MATT multichannel digital tactical module, which can use auxiliary satellite channels for exchanging tactical information when the enemy uses electronic warfare. Special equipment can also be installed for data exchange with Sentry AWACS aircraft and surface ships in the CEC combat distribution network. Cooperative Engagement Capability is the building block of the US Navy's NIFC-CA naval air defense missile defense concept. To work in the CEC network, "Hookai" use a specialized decimeter TTFN communication channel ("Link-16 / CMN-4"), which can work only after installing the AN / USG-3 unit.
It is not known whether the Egyptian E-2C AN / USG-3 will receive, but it is known for sure that with the help of these aircraft, the Air Force, together with the Egyptian Navy, will be able to build a good medium-range naval air defense missile defense system based on the transmission of information about the air situation from the E-2C on the FREMM-class frigate Tahya Misr and 3 Oliver Perry-class frigates purchased from the US Navy. "Tahya Misr", built for the Egyptian Navy at the French shipyard of the company DCNS, is equipped with the shipborne air defense system "PAAMS", which, thanks to target designation, will be able to intercept enemy anti-ship missiles with anti-aircraft interceptors "Aster-30" at over-the-horizon range. 4-6 Govind-2500 class corvettes, built for the Egyptian Navy in accordance with the 2014 contract, will also receive higher air defense characteristics. These ships will equip the VL-MICA self-defense air defense missile system.
The Hokaev's ability to detect surface targets at a distance of more than 300 km will play an important role in the construction of the future anti-ship defense of the Egyptian Navy. All surface ships of the Egyptian Navy (including the built "Gowind-2500") will be able to fire up to 190 anti-ship missiles of various classes in a single anti-ship salvo, and over-the-horizon target designation will allow this to be done at the maximum range, without approaching enemy ships for dangerous tens of kilometers.
The highest capabilities of the Egyptian Air Force, as well as a sharp increase in the combat potential of the fleet with their simultaneous inclusion in a modern unified network-centric network, indicate the very large ambitions of this North African state in the new multipolar structure of Western Asia and the Middle East: after all, the strategically important Suez Canal is still at the disposal of Cairo …
