Why Egypt Entrusted Its Skies to China?

According to Egypt Daily News, on February 13, Egypt received its first batch of J-10CE fighter jets from China.

In the past, the Egyptian Air Force has long been a key customer of NATO fighter jets. Of the 340 fighter jets it operates, 218 are U.S.-made F-16s, and 24 are French Rafales. Acquiring Chinese fighter jets will incur substantial additional costs such as upgrading communication and command systems, armament, and personnel training. However, Egypt still decided to shift its military procurement strategy by choosing Chinese aircraft over traditional Western suppliers, because it sees a major flaw in these multi-billion-dollar military assets purchased from Western military-industrial complex.

This flaw lies in the double standards Western countries apply when dealing with Israel and other Middle Eastern nations.

According to The Defense Post, due to restrictions from the U.S. “over concerns about the country’s human rights violations and regional conflicts,” Egypt’s F-16s still carry outdated avionics and AIM-7P missiles, a product from the 1980s with a mere 70 kilometers firing range. It’s worth noting that the Israeli Air Force also operates F-16s, but these are equipped with AIM-120 missiles, which have a range of 170 kilometers—100 kilometers longer than Egypt’s. This disparity means that in a hypothetical aerial battle, the Egyptians would be terminated before they even started to fight.

Neutering key component in military technology will not only reduce combat effectiveness of weapons but may even directly kill soldiers operating them. Ukrainian ace pilot Oleksii Mes, known by the call sign Moonfish, who had passed F-16 training, which normally takes years to complete, in just six months, that’s how good he was. However, in August 2024, he was killed by friendly fire from the Patriot air defense system.

Wall Street Journal suggests that the tragedy may have been caused by the absence of the Link 16 tactical network on the Patriot missile systems delivered to Ukraine. Link 16 is a communication system used for friend-or-foe identification, but because Washington believes such advanced technology is too sensitive to give out, even to its ally, this crucial component was withheld by the U.S. in its military assistance to Ukraine. That reluctance caused the life of Ukraine’s best pilot.

Egypt operates the world’s second-largest fleet of F-16s, after Turkey. This once made Egypt a formidable force in the Middle East. However, as the U.S. continues to support Israel—a regional destabilizer—and exacerbates this power imbalance through double standards, Egypt has little choice but to turn to China. China is willing to provide Egypt with advanced missiles that can help safeguard its nation.

J-10CE is equipped with PL-15 long-range air-to-air missiles, capable of engaging targets up to 300 kilometers away. This capability allows Egypt to intercept hostile aircraft and neutralize aerial threats before they reach its airspace.

The J-10CE can also carry 5.6 tons of missiles or bombs and achieve speed of up to Mach 1.8. With a combat radius of 550 kilometers, it can easily cover the 400 kilometers distance between Cairo and Tel Aviv. This means that if Israel hosts an airshow, Egypt’s J-10CE would only need 11 minutes to bring plenty of gifts to the party.

J-10C with PL-15 and K/JDC01A Laser Designator Pod

What is even more frustrating is that these intentional performance restrictions imposed by Western countries are often accompanied by unreasonably high prices. Since the 1980s, Egypt has paid over 6 billion dollars to purchase 218 outdated F-16s. Washington used to offer Cairo an upgraded version, the F-16V, but with a hefty price tag. For instance, the U.S. sold 66 F-16Vs to Taiwan for 8 billion dollars, equating to $121 million per unit.

In contrast, Pakistan signed a 1.4-billion-dollar deal with China in 2009 to buy 36 J-10s, at a unit price of just 39 million dollars.

Egypt’s French Rafale jets are even more expensive. The total cost for the 24 Rafales in service, along with another 30 yet to be delivered, amounts to 10.2 billion dollars.

This is not the first time the Rafales has faced competition from China’s J-10s. Apart from Egypt, India is another significant customer of these jets, and their main imaginary enemy is Pakistan’s J10.

Amit Mukherjee, an Assistant Professor in the Security Studies Program at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in India, argues that the J-10s are not comparable to the Rafales, particularly due to the Rafale’s superior Meteor missile, which has a strong data link.

However, according to BulgarianMilitary.com, attempts to equip Egyptian Rafales with the Meteor missile, which has a range exceeding 100 kilometers, have reportedly been blocked by Western powers, influenced by Israel’s concerns about maintaining its military superiority in the region.

While Israel may have the same concerns about China’s J-10 fighters and its PL15 missiles, Beijing apparently doesn’t care. As Egypt Daily News concluded, by integrating Chinese aircraft, Egypt reduces its vulnerability to future arms embargoes or restrictions, and improves its defense capabilities.

Editor: Charriot Zhai