U.S., Egypt celebrate resumption of joint production of military tanks

The U.S. embassy in Egypt celebrated Sunday the resumption of the US-Egypt joint production of military tanks M1A1 in the Egyptian Tank Plant 200, a military factory located in Helwan’s industrial zone, south of Cairo.

The joint production facility employs more than 2,500, reported state-run MENA news agency.

On Oct. 15, Minister of State for Military Production Mohamed al-Assar met the U.S. Ambassador Robert Stephen Beecroft and Donald Schenk, vice chairman of General Dynamics, and agreed to provide the necessary components to resume the production of the tanks in Egypt.

Resuming the production of the Abrams M1A1 tanks is the latest step taken by the U.S. administration as part of its commitment to provide an annual $ 1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt.

Egypt-U.S. relations were strained when the U.S. temporarily suspended its military aid to the Middle Eastern country following the army’s ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, after protests against his rule. Aid resumed in March 2015.

Accordingly, last July Egypt received eight F-16 Block 52 aircrafts from the U.S. and is expected to receive four others this autumn. Egypt also received five M1A1 Abrams Tank turrets in July.

The delivery of the tanks was preceded by the delivery of two Fast Missile naval vessels in June to the port of Alexandria “in support of Egypt’s security”, said the US embassy then.

Source: Aswat Masriya