AVIATION FANS

Al Gomhuria is a licensed built version of the German Bücker Bü 181 Bestmann aircraft.

The HA 200, nicknamed el "Saeta" (Arrow) by the Spanish Air Force and "Al Qahira" (the victorious) by the Egyptian Air Force, was a tandem two-seater, low wing monoplane powered by two French built Turbomeca Marboré IIA turbojets of 400 kilograms (880 pounds) thrust each. The engines are independently mounted and exhaust through tailpipes on either side of the fuselage. Aircraft construction is conventional with a semi-monocoque fuselage and cantilever wing and tail structure. The two-seat cockpit for instructor and student is pressurized.

Egypt has worked out a deal to manufacture Chinese JL-8 jet trainers. This is an extension of a purchase deal, from 1999, in which Egypt agreed to buy 80 JL-8s for about $4.4 million each. It took six years to work out the details of the technology transfer and foreign (in Egypt) manufacturing part of the agreement.

On June 25, 1980, Egypt signed a letter of agreement to acquire 40 Block 15 F-16A/B fighters (34 A single-seaters and 8 B two-seaters) under the Peace Vector FMS program. The first F-16 was accepted by Egypt in a ceremony at Fort Worth in January of 1982, with the first six planes arriving in Egypt in March of that year.

Egyptian Air Force strikes against Israeli targets in the occupied Sinai Peninsula on the first day of the October War in 1973 made a massive contribution to Arab success during the early part of the conflict. These attacks are considered as the key to the several victories achieved during this war.