Egypt’s Defense Industry: Dependency, Civilian Production, and Attempts at Autonomy

Abstract

Egypt’s defense industry is the oldest and largest in the Arab world. However, most of its military factories have converted into manufacturing consumer goods to the civilian market for profit. Meanwhile, they continue to produce traditional weapon systems that mostly do not respond to urgent needs to combat terrorism in asymmetric warfare. In addition, Egypt is largely dependent on U.S. firms for procurement and co-production. After a political crisis in 2013, the Ministry of Military Production (MoMP) has attempted to revive defense production through new co-production initiatives with international arms firms. The country also attempts to reduce its dependence on the U.S. by seeking procurement from other states such as France, Russia, and Germany. Such efforts remain noticeably limited, because the Egyptian military still focuses on its civilian business enterprises.

Publisher

Center for Foreign Policy & Peace Research

Publication Date

1-1-2020

Publication Title

All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace

Department

History

Additional Department

Middle East and North Africa Studies

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.20991/allazimuth.631010

Keywords

Egypt, Defense industries, Military business enterprises

Language

English

Format

text

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