a
World Defense & Security News - Egypt
 
 
Egypt reportedly signed a $2bn deal for 46 MiG-29 fighter aircraft
 
Egypt has agreed to buy 46 of Russia's MiG-29 fighter jets in a deal that may be worth up to $2 billion, the largest order for MiG aircraft since the fall of the Soviet Union, newspaper Vedomosti reported Monday May 25, citing two unidentified aviation industry sources.
     
Egypt has agreed to buy 46 of Russia's MiG-29 fighter jets in a deal that may be worth up to $2 billion, the largest order for MiG aircraft since the fall of the Soviet Union, newspaper Vedomosti reported Monday May 25, citing two unidentified aviation industry sources.
Russian Air Force's MiG-29 fighter aircraft
     
Cairo has historically purchased U.S.-made military hardware, but Washington suspended future sales after the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Since then, Egypt has turned to a number of other suppliers, including Russia, for its military needs. Last year Egypt bought Russia's advanced S-300 anti-aircraft system for a sum not less than $500 million, one of Vedomosti's sources said.

According to one of Vedomosti's two sources in the aviation industry, the deal for the 46 MiG-29 fighter jets will cost up to $2 billion.

The MiG-29 was first fielded in the 1970s to counter U.S. fighter jets such as the F-15 and F-16, and has been continuously upgraded by Russia's MiG aircraft company over the years.

The deal will be a boon to MiG, securing a production portfolio that would keep MiG-29s rolling off the assembly line until around 2020, Konstantin Makienko, deputy director of the Moscow-based Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, told Vedomosti.