The Al Quwwat al Jawwiya Ilmisriya (Egyptian Air Force) operates a substantial number of first- and second-generation F-16s. In 1979, the government of Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel, ending over 30 years of tension and sometimes open warfare between these two Middle Eastern nations. As one of the benefits of coming to an agreement with Israel at the Camp David accords of September 1978, Egypt became a major recipient of United States military aid, switching from Moscow to Washington for its arms supplies.
On June 25, 1980, Egypt signed a letter of agreement to acquire 40 Block 15 F-16A/B fighters (34 A single-seaters and 8 B two-seaters) under the Peace Vector FMS program. The first F-16 was accepted by Egypt in a ceremony at Fort Worth in January of 1982, with the first six planes arriving in Egypt in March of that year.
Under Peace Vector II, Egypt ordered 40 F-16C/Ds (34 Cs and six Ds) with AIM-7 Sparrow capability. These were Block 32 machines, and were one of the few examples of F-16C/Ds being built that were compatible with the AIM-7 Sparrow. First F-16C/D deliveries were in October of 1986, the 242nd Regiment at Beni Suef being the first to be equipped with the type.
In June of 1990, Egypt signed an order for 35 Block 40 F-16Cs and 12 Block 40 F-16Ds. These were to be powered by the General Electric F110 turbofan. This order was under Peace Vector III, and these planes were intended to equip two squadrons as well as to make up for attrition. The first Peace Vector III F-16s were delivered to Egypt in October of 1991.
A contract to produce 46 Block 40 F-16C/Ds for the Egyptian Air Force was placed with TUSAS Aerospace Industries (TAI) of Turkey. 34 of them were F-16Cs, 12 were F-16Ds. This was carried out under the auspices of the Peace Vector IV program, and marked the first sale of a foreign-built Fighting Falcon to a third-party nation in the history of the F-16 program. All but one of the earlier F-16s for Egypt had originated on the Lockheed/General Dynamics production line at Fort Worth. The first TAI-built aircraft was delivered to Egypt in early 1994. For formal bureaucratic reasons dealing with the rules and regulations under which the Foreign Military Sales program operates, TAI is not allowed to deliver F-16s directly to Egypt. Instead, the aircraft are initially delivered to the USAF, which then turns them over to Egypt.
Under Peace Vector V of May 1996, 21 Block 40 F-16Cs were ordered. Deliveries began in November of 1999, and should continue until 2002. As part of Peace Vector V, GBU-15 and AGM-84 capability will be integrated into all of Egypt's earlier F-16Cs.
Another dozen Block 40 F-16Cs and an equal number of F-16Ds were ordered in August 1999 under Peace Vector VI. This raises overall F-16 Egyptian orders to 220, including 60 F-16Ds. The Peace Vector VI planes will be powered by General Electric F110-GE-100B turbofans and will be equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-88(V) fire control radar.
Four wings of the Egyptian Air Force now operate the F-16. 34 F-16As and six F-16Bs from Peace Vector I are at Genaclis. 34 F-16Cs and six F-16Ds from Peace Vector II are with the Beni Sueif Wing. 35 F-16Cs and 12 F-16Ds from Peace Vector III are with Abu Sueir Wing. Egypt will have received a total of 175 Fighting Falcons by the time all the TAI machines have been delivered. By 1997, all of Egypt's Block 15 and 32 aircraft had been brought up to Block 42 standards.
Since Egyptian Air Force F-16s were acquired under Foreign Military Sales, they carry USAF serial numbers for administrative purpose. In service, they carry a four-digit EAF serial number on their vertical tails.
Under six separate Peace Vector programs, Egypt has acquaired 42 F-16A/B-15, 40 F-16C/D-32, and 138 F-16C/D-40 fighters by 2002. In March 2010, Egypt announced that wanted to buy an additional 20 Block 52 aircraft (16 F-16C and 4 F-16Ds). This would have been under Peace Vector VII. Four of them were delivered on February 3, 2013, but following the July 3, 2013 Egyptian coup which toppled President Mohammad Morsi from power and suspended the Egyptian constition, President Barack Obama announced on Jul 24, 2013 that further F-16 deliveries would be halted due to the unrest.
In 2015, Egyptian F-16s carried out air strikes against jihadi training camps and weapons caches in Libya in retaliation against the murder of 21 workers by militants affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS).
On April 2, 2015, President Obama announced that he was lifting the embargo on deliveries of F-16 to Egypt. In July of 2015, it was announced that eight Block 52 F-16 would be delivered to Egypt.
Serials of Egyptian Air Force F-16s:
80-0639/0641 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15A Fighting Falcon exported to Egypt under Peace Vector (9301/9303) 80-0642/0643 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15B Fighting Falcon exported to Egypt under Peace Vector (9304/9305) 80-0644/0647 General Dynamics F-16B Block 15A Fighting Falcon exported to Egypt under Peace Vector (9201/9204) 80-0648 General Dynamics F-16B Block 15B Fighting Falcon exported to Egypt under Peace Vector (9205) 81-0643/0644 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15C Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9306/9307) 81-0645/0647 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15D Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9308/9310) 81-0648/0650 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15E Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9311/9313) 81-0651/0653 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15F Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9314/9316) 81-0654/0657 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15G Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9317/9320) 81-0658/0661 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15H Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9321/9324) 81-0662 General Dynamics F-16B Block 15C Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9206) 81-0883 General Dynamics F-16B Block 15P Fighting Falcon built by Fokker for Egypt (9207) 82-1042/1045 General Dynamics F-16B Block 15N Fighting Falcon 1043 to Egypt under Peace Vector as 9208 82-1056/1057 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15J Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9325/9326) 82-1058/1060 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15K Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9327/9329) 9327 crashed May 15, 1995. 82-1061/1063 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15L Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9330/9332) 82-1064/1065 General Dynamics F-16A Block 15M Fighting Falcon to Egypt under Peace Vector (9333/9334) 84-1332 General Dynamics F-16C Block 32 Fighting Falcon For Egypt as 9501 84-1333/1339 General Dynamics F-16C Block 32A Fighting Falcon for Egypt as 9502/9508 84-1340/1343 General Dynamics F-16D Block 32 Fighting Falcon For Egypt as 9401/9404 84-1344/1345 General Dynamics F-16D Block 32a Fighting Falcon For Egypt as 9405/9406 85-1518/1523 General Dynamics F-16C Block 32A Fighting Falcon for Egypt as 9509/9514 85-1524/1543 General Dynamics F-16C Block 32B Fighting Falcon for Egypt as 9515/9534 90-0899/0907 General Dynamics F-16C Block 40H Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9903/9911 90-0908/0922 General Dynamics F-16C Block 40K Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9912/9926 90-0923/0930 General Dynamics F-16C Block 40L Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9927/9934 90-0931/0934 General Dynamics F-16D Block 40H Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9801/9804 90-0935/0936 General Dynamics F-16D Block 40J Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9805/9806 90-0937 General Dynamics F-16D Block 40K Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9807 90-0953 General Dynamics F-16C Block 40M Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9935 90-0954 General Dynamics F-16D Block 40M Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9808 90-0955/0958 General Dynamics F-16D Block 40N Fighting Falcon sold to Egypt as 9809/9812 93-0485/0487 Lockheed F-16C Block 40Q Fighting Falcon Built by TUSAS in Turkey for Egypt as 9951/9953 93-0488/0512 Lockheed F-16C Block 40R Fighting Falcon C/n BC-36/BC-59. Built by TUSAS in Turkey for Egypt as 9954/9978 93-0513/0516 Lockheed F-16D Block 40N Fighting Falcon C/n BC-60/BC-63. Built by TUSAS in Turkey for Egypt as 9851/9854 93-0517/0524 Lockheed F-16D Block 40P Fighting Falcon C/n BD-13/BD-24. Built by TUSAS in Turkey for Egypt as 9855/9862 93-0525/0530 Lockheed F-16C Block 40R Fighting Falcon c/n BC-64/BC-69. Built by TUSAS in Turkey for Egypt as 9979/9984 96-0086/0106 Lockheed Martin F-16C Block 40 Fighting Falcon MSN BC-70/BC-90. To Egypt as 9711/9731, Peace Vector V 0091 (BC-75, 9716) reportedly w/o in off-airfield landing attempt Jul 13, 2004. 99-0105/0116 Lockheed Martin F-16C Block 40 Fighting Falcon FMS to Egypt 99-0117/0128 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40 Fighting Falcon FMS to Egypt 10-1001/1016 Lockheed Martin F-16C Block 52 MSN JJ-01/16. To Egyptian AF as 9751/9766. 10-1017/1020 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 52 MSN JK-01/04. To Egyptian AF as 9821/9824 1018 noted Jul 23 2012 (for Egyptian AF as 9822). Plus later deliveries.
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Thanks to Ben Marselis for the updates on the EAF serials.
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- General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon
