Free Republic

A force to be reckoned with Posted on 9 August 2010 in Defence The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) or Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya, is one of the largest air arms in the region and is also one of the longest established. Formed in 1930 as the Egyptian Army Air Force, it became fully independent in 1937. Initially it had close links with the British Royal Air Force and was primarily equipped with British-supplied aircraft. Spitfires gave way to Meteors and Vampires before the 1952 revolution, after which the new president, General Gamal Abdel Nasser, turned to the Soviet...

Turkey, which says it lost $30bn (£19bn) in trade with Iraq after the 1991 Gulf war, is preparing to compete for a substantial share in the business of rebuilding Iraq. The foreign ministry said yesterday it had appointed Ahmet Okcu, a senior diplomat, to co-ordinate government and private sector lobbying efforts. Nihat Ozdemir, head of the Turkish Contractors' Union, said he would be pleased if Turkey could secure 20 per cent of the reconstruction contracts, which could be worth as much as $100bn. Tusiad, the Turkish business association, is sending a mission to Washington next month to "warm up bilateral...