Egypt has finally obtained the AIM-120 active medium-range missile: On July 24, an announcement released by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency's official website showed that the U.S. Department of State has approved the export of the NASAMS land-based air defense system to Egypt, along with the export of 100 AMRAAM-ER intercept missiles (an improved version of the Sea Sparrow using the AIM-120 guidance head), 100 AIM-120-C8 active medium-range missiles, and 600 AIM-9X block 2 infrared imaging dogfighting missiles.

For decades, the United States had refused to sell Egypt the AIM-120 active medium-range missiles for F-16s, citing the danger to Israel. However, our military sales to Egypt have prompted the U.S., and whenever we show any possible success, the U.S. relaxes its restrictions on Egypt, clearly trying to steal business.

To be fair, Egypt has finally achieved its wish of obtaining the AIM-120 missiles with a range of 160 to 180 kilometers. After all, Egypt has been purchasing F-16 aircraft for over 30 years, but has always used short-range missiles with a range of only 30 to 50 kilometers, which are completely unable to confront Israel. In addition, the Rafale fighter jets purchased from France also temporarily did not obtain the Meteor missile with a range of about 150 kilometers.

If the U.S. relaxes the restrictions on missiles for Egypt, it is likely that France will follow suit, since there is money to be made, who would not do it? Since the U.S. has relaxed the restrictions, France will certainly also relax them, which is inevitable.

Another point is that our current military sales plan to Egypt remains unclear. It is said that Egypt has received a comprehensive upgrade of the HQ-9 air defense missile system, but so far no photos or videos have been released to prove it. As for the issue of selling J-10C and J-35A fighter jets to Egypt, there has been no complete display yet, and the situation remains unclear.

However, the U.S. must be in a hurry. By relaxing the missile restrictions and selling a large number of missiles to Egypt, it is also to regain the market. Moreover, after Egypt bought these missiles, they still haven't unlocked them, meaning there are missiles but no guns. Because the F-16 aircraft purchased by Egypt have not been unlocked yet, they don't have the capability to carry long-range AIM-120 air-to-air missiles. Therefore, the U.S. is really tightening the screws on Egypt, which is very frustrating.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1838686541876236/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.