Egyptian M1A1 Production Line Starts Again

The Egyptian Tank Plant assembly line of the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT) for the Egyptian Army is back in full production, under a co-production programme with US General Dynamics Land Systems, prime contractor for the M1A1.

Under the original contract, a total of 555 M1A1 MBTs were delivered to the Egyptian Army, with final vehicles being delivered late in 1998. Since then another 200 M1A1 MBTs have been added to the contract, for production in two batches of 100. The first one of the latest order rolled off the production line in January this year and production has now built up to four vehicles per month. This is expected to continue until December 2005 when the last of the 200 additional vehicles will be completed.

The second batch of 100 M1A1s was funded through the US government's Foreign Military Sales programme and is valued at an estimated $590 million. In addition to this order, Egypt has also requested 100 120mm M256 smooth-bore tank guns (made by Watervliet Arsenal of the USA); 100 0.50-cal M2 HB heavy machine guns; 200 7.62mm M240 machine guns; and 12 5.56mm M16A2 light machine guns plus other associated spare parts and training equipment.

When completed, the second batch of 100 MBTs will bring the total Egyptian inventory of M1A1s to 755. It is understood that, funding permitting, Egypt would like to procure an additional 200 M1A1's. Egypt is the largest user of the M1 series of MBTs outside of the USA. Kuwait has 218 and Saudi Arabia 315. However, in both cases these are the more recent and enhanced M1A2 MBTs.

The gap in M1A1 production at the Egyptian Tank Plant (also referred to as Factory 200), was filled by co-production of 50 of the latest United Defense LP M88A2 Hercules armoured recovery vehicles. Hulls were supplied from United Defense together with other sub-systems with final assembly taking placed in Egypt. The M88A2 has been designed to recover heavier armoured vehicles such as the M1A1 MBT and is an upgraded version of the older M88A1 of which 221 have been supplied to Egypt.

In a separate development, the US Army Operations Support Command has awarded the ATK Ammunition Systems of the USA a $27 million contract to assist Egypt in the development of a capability to produce 120mm tank training ammunition for the 120mm M256 smooth-bore gun installed in the M1A1 MBT. Under the three-year contract the company will provide technical expertise, equipment and ammunition to support the manufacture of 45,000 rounds of training ammunition at a facility near Cairo. In addition, the company will construct all required equipment for a 120mm ammunition test firing range in Egypt.

Profits for defnese companies hit a low in 1993, but have been climbing ever since. When I did a report on this last year 35% of the sales of U.S. defense companies was comming from sales to foreign governments.

There are two sides to this. It helps lower U.S. defense expenditures by allowing some foreign nations to provide for their own security, while keeping the U.S. defense industry dynamic and profitable in case we ever need them to go 24/7 production schedules during wartime.That is the good news.

The bad news is due to industry lobbying during the Clinton adminstration we live in a much more dangerous world. Check out a clean company like ATK, they have a list of all their foreign customers on their web site and in the annual report. They are hiding nothing and remain profitable. Others such as Bernard Schwartz should be tried and executed for treason.

"Egypt where Al Queda has many cells?"

Many Middle Eastern nations have vast expanses of desert where the government has little control and sometimes knowledge of what goes on. They need to control what goes on within their own borders, it is good for world security.

"Beats me. Tanker, you want to give this a shot?" I don't have first hand knowledge of the trannies being installed in the Egyptian version of the Abrams. The only info I have is that the plant in Egypt is basically assembly only, putting together kits made by the US contractor comprising about 80% of the tank. I don't have any info that the trannies for the Egyptian version are different from the standard Detroit Diesel, but as I said I haven't seen the Egyptian version. I have no knowledge of any U.S. armor sales to Syria - so far as I know there is no clearance for that.

As I understand it the deal with Egypt is they take out of commission one old East Bloc tank for each Abrams they assemble, so the overall size of the armor force does not increase. The issue is the Abrams is so much better than the junk it's replacing in Egypt. The possiblility of a change of regime to a radical Islamic state is really troubling. The only comfort I take is that the Abrams is very maintenance intensive and cut off from U.S. support and supplies the Egyptian force would likely deteriorate quickly. Also, the Israeli Air Force would seize air superiority over Egypt in any conflict, leaving the Egyptian Abrams vulnerable to air attack. I know its cold comfort, but I'm as uneasy about this as many posters.

I concur this is a contractor-driven issue. The Army has discontinued Abrams purchases in favor of the "Future Combat Vehicle" that has not been designed. So, Middle Eastern sales are keeping the U.S. production lines open for now. I suppose it's also nice to know that a big chunk of our aid to Egypt is being recycled right back to U.S. companies and workers and not to Russian sales.

Perhaps my age is showing. An old joke about Egyptian and Syrian tanks is Moscow provided them with special transmissions having a 3:1 Reverse:Forward gear ratio. Meaning for each forward gear there were three reverse gears.

LOL!! Man, that one flew right past me...I shouldn't take things so seriously I guess.

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