Egypt Biggest Arms Buyer In Middle East

2005-09-04

Arieh O'Sullivan

The Jerusalem Post

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Egypt has become the developing world's third largest buyer of weapons over the last four years, according to a leading US official research service.

According to the annual report issued by the Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress, only China and India recorded more arms transfer agreements, thus making Egypt the principal arms buyer in the Middle East. The report issued last week in Washington said Egypt recorded $6.5 billion worth of weapons purchases from 2001 to 2004. Israel bought $4.4b. during the same period and Saudi Arabia recorded $3.8b.

For Egypt, which receives $1.3b. in annual US military grants, most of its weapons were purchased from the United States ($5.6b.). Most of this has been for military platforms and weapons, including advanced attack helicopters and fast missile vessels.

The report, entitled "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations," said Egypt outspent the traditional heavy buyers of Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

The main reason for the heavy Egyptian arms purchases is its ambitious modernization program.

"This is worrisome and something that should be addressed," said Hillel Frisch, a senior researcher and expert on the Egyptian military at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

Frisch said that the arms purchases added up to over a $1b. more than the amount of military grants Cairo received from Washington.

"This is surprising since it comes at a time when the long-term Egypt economy has been in decline. It is clearly that Egypt doesn't have any other enemies [than Israel]. It might have a problem with an atomic Iran, but a conventional system isn't going to have much of an impact there," Frisch said.

In general, the Egyptian army has undergone a transformation from its last defeat by the IDF. Since the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty it has undergone a dramatic Westernization. It has acquired American Abrams tanks, F-16 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters, and a state-of-the-art navy.

"The worse thing about all of this is what are they amassing all this kind of weapons for? The critical question is maintenance. Do they have the capability of maintaining all these systems?" Frisch asked.

Israel has long pressed Washington not to disturb the promise to maintain the qualitative edge it gives Israel over weapons it sells other Middle Eastern countries. In general this has been kept, but the United States has sold some weapons to Egypt of superior quality than it has sold to Israel, such as the Harpoon II missiles.

The report said that China ranked first among developing countries in arms buying from 2000-2004, concluding $10.4b. in arms purchasing. India followed China with $7.9b. in arms purchases.

The United States remained the leading arms supplier in the world with its biggest market in the Middle East. The CRS defines developing countries as every country except those in North America and Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In general, the report found that $37b. in arms sales in 2004 marked the first time this decade that total arms sales had increased. It also marked the first time sales to Asia surpassed the Middle East.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis