Egypt reportedly plans to begin assembling an additional 100 US M1A1 Abrams tanks in its factory outside Cairo, according to a report Wednesday by the Middle East Newsline (MENL).
So far, the Egyptian military has assembled more than 600 Abrams tanks under license from its manufacturer, General Dynamics, said MENL.
The latest request by Cairo is estimated to cost $590 million.
Last week, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency informed Congress of the Egyptian request.
"This proposed sale will increase the quantity of the Abrams tank co-production program, started in 1988, from the current level of 655 tanks to 755 tanks," the agency said in a statement, cited by the news service.
"Egypt, which has already co-produced the M1A1 Abrams tanks, will have no difficulty absorbing the additional tanks."
General Dynamics will supply the M1A1 kits under the proposed contract and supply the components required to assemble the tanks. The company has a large contingent at Egypt's Factory 200, where the M1A1 is assembled.
The M1A1 supplied to Egypt contains the M256 armament systems, M2 .50 caliber machine guns and M240 7.62 millimeter machine guns.
According to the report, the Egyptian request marks the last phase of a 1999 agreement by Washington to supply 200 Abrams tanks to Cairo.
The first 100 tank kits have already been supplied and most of the tanks assembled.
The deal does not contain any offsets to Egypt, said MENL.
Egypt has been under US fire recently for allegedly attempting to develop an intermediate range missile, a variation on the North Korean No-Dong.
Although Egypt's $1.3 billion in US military aid was passed intact this year, congressmen attacked the missile program as targeted at Israel, America's largest client state in terms of military aid and diplomatic support - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
