Military Aid to Egypt: Tank Coproduction Raised Costs and May Not Meet Many Program Goals
Abstract
As part of the Camp David Accords in 1979, the United States has provided billions of dollars in military assistance to Egypt. This assistance, provided in the form of annual grants, has remained steady at $1.3 billion per year since 1987. Subject to U.S. approval authority, this assistance can be used by Egypt for a variety of military requirements. In the early 1980s, Egypt decided to modernize its Army by procuring a new main battle tank. At that time, Egypt also had requirements for light armored vehicles and tank maintenance facilities. Egyptian officials studied these requirements and decided to build one large tank factory (called Factory 200) to produce the new tanks and light armored vehicles and repair M60 tanks. Egypt sought and received U.S. financial support for constructing the tank factory, and later, for coproducing M1A1 tanks there. Although Egyptian officials told us they would like to produce 1,500 M1A1 tanks, the coproduction agreement only authorizes 524 tanks (25 complete U.S.- built tanks and 499 Egyptian-built tanks). Six increments of production were initially planned, with Egypt progressively completing more of the tank. However, the plans for Egypt completing more of the tank in each increment have been reduced, limiting the production.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA283908
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office