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

Year 2021, , 59 - 80, 10.12.2020

Zeinab Abul-magd

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

Cited By: 2

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.

Keywords

Egypt, defense industries, military business enterprises

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