The Carter Administration has formally unveiled an arms package for Egypt that would make the government in Cairo a U.S. military surrogate in the Middle East, according to analysts here. The State Department said yesterday that it is informing Congress of its proposal to send to Egypt 40 F-16 fighter aircraft, 250 M-60 tanks, and additional equipment including 550 armed personnel carriers.
Two weeks ago the State Department said that it was providing $1.85 billion to Egypt in arms credits in the fiscal year starting next Oct. 1 and is contemplating an additional $800 million in the following fiscal year. The operational program, it is understood, is to spread at least $4 billion over five years to Egypt. This figure could be considerably increased if Egypt should receive F-15 aircraft starting probably next year.
The decision to arm Egypt to an extent unprecedented represents a policy shift that fits into the “Carter Middle East doctrine” as a result of the upheavals in the Middle East. In announcing the arms package, the Department said “the Egyptian government hopes in due course to order such F-15 aircraft as may be necessary for its defense needs.”
Only a year ago, Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance assured Congress that the Carter Administration had no intention of converting Egypt into a military power on the line of Iran. The F-15, considered the world’s foremost fighter, costs about $18 million, and the F-16 is about $11 million. U.S. sources said that Egypt has decided to “devote resources” to less expensive hardware.
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