The Egyptian Defence Ministry has reportedly signed a contract to obtain Chinese language WJ-700 unmanned assault plane, in a possible landmark within the ongoing enlargement of defence ties between the 2 counties. Native and Chinese language sources point out that the deal was signed in June 2025, and is about to make Egypt the second overseas operator of the sort alongside Algeria. The WJ-700 has an endurance of as much as 20 hours when armed, and might carry a variety of munitions varieties together with a number of precision guided air-to-surface missiles for floor assault roles, in addition to CM-102 anti-radiation missile, and C-701, and C-705 anti-ship missiles. The jet powered plane is among the many quickest of any unmanned design on the earth, and has been notably singed out by analysts for its efficiency in air defence suppression roles.
In early 2025 Egyptian army sources reported that the Egyptian Air Power had procured the Chinese language HQ-9B lengthy vary air defence system, offering a brand new spine to the nation’s beforehand underwhelming surface-to-air missile community. This had probably transformative impacts for the steadiness of energy within the air between the nation and potential adversaries. A shifting of energy trajectories within the Center East is taken into account a main issue stimulating Egypt’s curiosity in Chinese language aerial warfare property, as Cairo has seen tensions develop with a number of nations within the Western world and their regional strategic companions Israel and Turkey. Western backing each for prior Israeli plans to evict the inhabitants of the neighbouring Gaza Strip, and for Turkish efforts to bolster Islamist militants in Syria and Libya, have all been thought of to pose main threats to Egyptian safety, as have efforts to undermine the central authorities in Sudan which escalated from 2019, and once more from 2023.
Following a number of unconfirmed experiences from late 2024 that the Egyptian Defence Ministry had signed a contract to obtain Chinese language J-10C fighters, Chinese language Folks’s Liberation Army Air Power J-10Cs have been deployed to Egypt to take part within the ‘Eagles of Civilisation 2025’ joint air workouts alongside YY-20 tankers, KJ-500 airborne early warning and management programs, and different supporting property. The spine of the Egyptian fighter fleet is at present made up of out of date variants of the F-16 fighter, which not solely lack entry to any post-Chilly Battle weaponry, or to any past visible vary weaponry in any respect past AIM-7 missiles from the Eighties, however that are additionally strictly restricted by the USA how they are often deployed.
The retraining of Egyptian personnel to utilise new varieties Chinese language fighter plane can be a significantly extra advanced and time consuming course of than coaching on superior air defence programs just like the HQ-9B. Procuring each the fighters and the ground-based programs, nonetheless, would completely rework Egypt’s at present very restricted skill to defend its airspace. The procurement of the WJ-700 would complement this with a complicated strike functionality, and will pave the best way for additional procurements of a variety of assault drone varieties. The in depth downgrading of Western fighters offered to Egypt, and the main world competitiveness of Chinese language drones, makes procurements of plane just like the WJ-700 seem extremely engaging. Though nations throughout the Western world are anticipated to maintain stress on Cairo to restrict its defensive capabilities by persevering with to depend on a really restricted vary of downgraded Western gear, latest regional tensions have made a strengthening of Egypt’s aerial warfare capabilities seem more and more very important.
