Now all they need are Israeli pilots to fly them.
It ain’t the quality of the airplanes the matters, its the quality of the pilots. How many hours of flight training do they get each month? How do they train and how hard? That is the predictor for how well they’ll do in combat.
All of which they ultimately lost. And rumor has it that they didn't show up for the '67 rodeo, something about being destroyed on the ground.
Well they have gone from purchasing the best and now are focused on crap.
Israel is not impressed.
Egypt, like all Arab States, is one or two authoritarian heartbeats away from transforming into a raging Islamic State.
All this US aid and supply will eventually be used against Israel.
Egypt has achieved an unparalleled record of excellence in this area.
Formed in 1930 as the Egyptian Army Air Force, it became fully independent in 1937... forged in a succession of hard-fought wars; against Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, against Libya in 1977, and supporting Republican Yemeni forces against Saudi-backed Royalist forces (1962-70)... Following the signature of the Camp David Accords... and the subsequent 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, Egypt lost the support of many of its Arab neighbours. Saudi Arabian plans to send 50 F-5s to Egypt were cancelled... in September 1977, when 35 ex-USAF F-4Es (armed with Sparrow, Sidewinder and Maverick missiles) were supplied to the EAF at a cost of US$594 million under the Peace Pharaoh programme. Ten further aircraft were supplied subsequently and the survivors still serve with 76 and 78 Squadrons of the 222 Fighter Regiment... large numbers of its Soviet-built fighters (including MiG-17s, MiG-21s, MiG-23s and Su-20s) were sent to the USA for analysis and for use in a secretive adversary training programme. Other Soviet-built fighters were supplied to other US allies for evaluation, and a few to China... Operation Bright Star series of exercises... is held every two years and involves... forces from a number of nations including France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, as well as the USA and Egypt... 240 F-16 fighters... the world's fourth largest F-16 operator... upgraded to... the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile. The 40 Block 32 F-16C/Ds (34 Cs and six Ds) delivered under Peace Vector II were compatible with the AIM-7 Sparrow, giving them a robust air combat capability.The main reason the EAF is perhaps better now than it has been during its conflicts is, it hasn't fought the IAF since 1973. Even with surprise on its side (and sheer numbers, and an umbrella of SAMs), and regardless of how costly it was to the IAF, the EAF didn't acquit itself in 1973. Thanks sukhoi-30mki, this long and much more detailed article is fascinating.
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The Saudi's are probably more of an air threat, Egypt has concentrated on armor, which the US happily supplies.