Two British companies have concluded a deal to supply helicopters to the Cairo-based Arab military industries organization. They are Westland Aircraft Company, which manufactures the Lynx helicopter, and Rolls Royce, which supplies the engines.
It is reported that a taken number of helicopters will be supplied directly to Egypt. But it is also planned to establish an assembly plant at Helwan in Egypt, which could bring the total number of helicopters supplied to 200, worth an eventual 400 million Pounds Sterling.
The Arab military industries organization is financed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt. It was established in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War with the aim of making the Arab states less dependent on outside suppliers for arms and spare parts. Under an earlier 40 million Pounds Sterling deal, involving the British Aerospace Corporation, another Egyptian assembly line is producing swing fire anti-tank missiles.
The Arab military industries organization also plans to establish assembly lines in countries other than Egypt. At a meeting in Abu Dhabi last week, the military industries organization decided to set up a company for production of military electronic equipment in Saudi Arabia in cooperation with American concerns.
According to this week’s “Arabia and the Gulf,” the new Saudi venture reflects disapproval of the organization’s Egyptian orientation on the part of the Arab oil states. The prestigious magazine adds that the military organization still faces substantial difficulties and that despite a paper capitalization of $1.04 billion, it is under-financed. (By Maurice Samuelson.)
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