Page "Egyptian Armed Forces" Paragraph 12

The Egyptian Air Force or EAF is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces.

Currently, the backbone of the EAF is the F-16.

The EAF ( planes and pilot training ) is considered to be the strongest in Africa and one of the strongest in the Middle East.

The Mirage 2000 is the other modern interceptor used by the EAF.

The Egyptian Air Force has 216 F-16s ( plus 20 on order ) making it the 4th largest operator of the F-16 in the World.

It has about 579 combat aircraft and 149 armed helicopters as it continues to fly extensively upgraded MiG-21s, F-7 Skybolts, F-4 Phantoms, Dassault Mirage Vs, and the C-130 Hercules among other planes.

The Air Force is undergoing massive modernization.

Mikoyan confirmed that talks with Egypt are underway for the sale of 40 Mig-29SMT jet-fighters with a possible additional batch of 60-80 planes.