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When the F-15 was created, it was created to be a pure air-to-air fighter, with the philosophy of “not a pound for air-to-ground” guiding designers. So how did Israel end up turning their F-15s into deadly long-range multi-role strike aircraft well before the F-15E Strike Eagle became a reality? Here’s how. In Need Of A Game Changing Fighter Israel’s love affair with the F-15 began out of the need to procure a fighter that could trump the increasingly complex fighters that surrounding Arab states were amassing from Russian and French sources. Both the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle were...

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi blamed Israel for fueling terrorism in the Middle East by not making peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday, in light of the tensions between the West and the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). The lack of a “peace process” in Israel contributes to a “fertile environment for the growth and spread of extremism, violence and terrorism,” claimed Sisi, who violently overthrew former President Mohammed Morsi last July 3. […] Sisi has been critical towards Israel, despite serving as mediator between the Jewish state and the terrorist organization Hamas in negotiations that led to...

Spokesmen for the two Egyptian presidential candidates recently advocated for putting the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel to a vote in a referendum. […] “Our enmity with the Zionist enemy goes to our very existence. It’s either us or them. No peace is possible,” said Tamer Hindawi, (Hamdeen) Sabahi’s spokesman, during the debate. He further claimed that “The Zionist enemy is clearly the head of colonialism in the region. In our view, the Camp David Accords are responsible for many of our crises, and might even be the main reason for Egypt’s subjugation to America, and for the decline...

An Egyptian delegation visited Moscow last Thursday to strengthen ties between the two countries, reports Haaretz, just a few days after America announced the suspension of $250 million in military aid to Egypt. With the return of the delegation from Moscow, Egypt expressed intentions to buy MiG-29 planes and other military equipment from Russia in a $15 billion deal. Some reports indicate Saudi Arabia—which is itself experiencing something of a crisis in its relations with the Obama administration—will help finance the deal. …

The Egyptian army has been deploying large anti-terrorist forces in parts of the Sinai peninsula without informing Israel in advance. The peace treaty between the two countries limits the Egyptian military presence in Sinai. Some of the Egyptian forces in the peninsula were sent there with Israel's consent, but Haaretz has learned that forces have also been deployed without Israel's prior approval. Israeli government officials only learned about it after the fact. Although Israeli defense officials declined to comment on the matter, they did note that there has been good security cooperation between the two countries, adding that there is

The leading candidate in Egypt's presidential race said on Sunday that the Camp David Accords should be consigned to the shelves of history, describing the agreement as "dead and buried." At a mass rally in southern Egypt, Amr Moussa, who is currently ahead in Egypt's race for president, spoke of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, saying that "the Camp David Accords are a historical document whose place is on the shelves of history, as its articles talk about the fact that the aim of the agreement is to establish an independent Palestinian state." Moussa went on to say...

Egypt has released 950 jailed members of the militant Islamist group Gamaa Islamiya. Some of them have been in prison since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat 25 years ago. The group's lawyer says about 950 members of Gamaa Islamiya have been released over the last 10 days. The largest group, several hundred, were freed Tuesday, in honor of a Muslim holiday marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. Those released include several senior figures, some of whom have been imprisoned for more than 20 years. Gamaa Islamiya was once Egypt's largest militant Islamist group, responsible for a string of...

A force to be reckoned with Posted on 9 August 2010 in Defence The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) or Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya, is one of the largest air arms in the region and is also one of the longest established. Formed in 1930 as the Egyptian Army Air Force, it became fully independent in 1937. Initially it had close links with the British Royal Air Force and was primarily equipped with British-supplied aircraft. Spitfires gave way to Meteors and Vampires before the 1952 revolution, after which the new president, General Gamal Abdel Nasser, turned to the Soviet...