Africa > Egypt > Military

View full size

Armed forces growth	1		[68th of 132]
Armed forces personnel	448,000		[10th of 166]
Branches Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Command
Conscription Conscription exists.
Conventional arms imports	$398,000,000.00		[11th of 85]
expenditure > % of GDP	2.81 %		[21st of 145]
Expenditures > Dollar figure	$2,440,000,000.00		[27th of 111]
Gulf War Coalition Forces	33,600		[4th of 30]
Manpower > Availability > Males age 15-49	19,895,400		[16th of 175]
Manpower > Military age	20 years of age
personnel	799,000		[7th of 170]
personnel > % of total labor force	3.49 %		[15th of 168]
Service age and obligation 18-30 years of age for male conscript military service; service obligation 12-36 months, followed by a 9-year reserve obligation
Tanks	900 tanks		[17th of 22]
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier > National examples > Description Also includes the tomb of President Anwar Sadat.
US military exports	$615,240.00 thousand		[5th of 109]
Weapon holdings	11,251,000		[6th of 137]
WMD > Missile Egypt's missile program began in earnest in the 1960s. With West German assistance, Egypt began developing three missile systems: al-Zafar (375-km range), al-Kahir (600-km range) and al-Raid (1,000-km range); however, with the withdrawal of West German assistance in 1966, these programs were abandoned. In the 1980s, Egypt aligned with Iraq and Argentina in an effort to develop a short-range, solid-fueled missile known in Argentina as Condor-II and in Iraq as Badr-2000 (the internal Egyptian designation is not known publicly). In 1989, Cairo ended the cooperative relationship with Baghdad, but it is likely that domestic-based efforts continue on this missile. Egypt has been more successful in its pursuit of Scud-B and perhaps Scud-C manufacturing capabilities. With the assistance of North Korea, Egypt was able to develop an indigenous Scud-B production capability, and there are reports that it has developed an enhanced Scud-C missile. In 2001, Egypt reportedly signed an agreement with North Korea to purchase its 1000km-range Nodong missile system. Egypt is not a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
WMD > Nuclear Egypt's efforts to develop nuclear technology likely began in the late 1950s. The program is housed at the Inshas Nuclear Research Center, 40 km outside of Cairo. Inshas hosts a Soviet-supplied 2 MW research reactor that went critical in 1961, and an Argentine-supplied 22 MW light water research reactor that went critical in 1997. Cairo has long expressed the desire to import power-generation reactors, but thus far these efforts have proven unsuccessful. In the 1970s, there was apparently a debate within Egypt about pursuing a weapons capability and, as part of that effort, developing an independent fuel cycle. However, it appears that no serious work was done towards these ends. In 1981, Egypt acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and, one year later, began implementing the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) comprehensive safeguards. Egypt has been a vocal critic of the NPT—beginning notably at the 1995 Review and Extension Conference—and has supported a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East, citing Israel's non-ascension to the NPT as an obstacle to this process.
WMD > Overview A recipient of substantial U.S. military aid, Egypt does not appear to be aggressively pursuing nonconventional weapons capabilities at this time. Nonetheless, it is one of the few countries that has used chemical weapons in warfare (Yemen Civil War, 1963-1967) and is suspected of maintaining a chemical warfare (CW) capability, as well as a moderately advanced missile program. Cairo has been a leader in promoting a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle East and the strongest critic of Israel's nuclear weapons program, linking its refusal to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to Israel's nonparticipation in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Related links:

• Forum discussion > Military
• Searching for Information on the American Military? Try StateMaster
• Stay updated with current stat feeds! Subscribe to the Military RSS / Atom feeds
•  Subscribe to our popular Military factoids RSS / Atom feeds
• Save this page on  del.icio.us / furl / your bookmarks

More facts and figures on Egypt