Egyptian Vice President Hosni Mubarak said here that France will continue to supply Egypt with arms and planes and will play an active role in organizing Egyptian defense systems.
Mubarak, who met Friday with French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, is in Paris to continue arms talks with the French and to visit the International Air Show at Le Bourget. France is already supplying Egypt with Alpha jet training and ground support planes, helicopters and electronic equipment. The Egyptians are also planning to start first assembling and then building the new Mirage-2000.
Israeli officials at the air show told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that as far as they can judge from a superficial examination the Mirage-2000 is a powerful and fast combat plane, but far less effective than its American counterparts.
The Israeli delegation to the show includes the Defense Ministry Director General Yosef Maayan and the Commander of the Air Force, Brig. General David Ivry. Both men watched at length the Mirage-4000 prototype as it overflew Le Bourget while performing intricate air figures and steep climbs.
Several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, are considering acquiring the plane as the back-bone for their Air Force in the 1980s.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
