CAIRO (Middle East Eye) – The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of radars and C-130 Super Hercules planes to Egypt for a combined value of more than $2.5bn, the Pentagon has announced.
The deal comes a day after Middle East Eye obtained graphic footage showing the apparent abuse and torture of inmates at a Cairo prison.
The potential sale of 12 C-130J-30 Super Hercules planes for as much as $2.2bn would include support equipment, spares and technical support, the U.S. Defense Department said.
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the planes.
The government of Egypt has also sought to buy three SPS-48 Land Based Radars, spares, motor generators, training and associated equipment, the Pentagon said.
L3Harris Technologies was the prime contractor for the radars which could cost as much as $355mn.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which notified Congress of the possible sale on Tuesday, said the sale “will improve Egypt’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing airlift support for its forces by moving supplies, equipment, and people”.
Despite approval by the State Department, the notification does not indicate that a contract has been signed or that negotiations have concluded.
Egypt is the second-largest recipient of U.S. military aid, coming only behind the Zionist regime.
The deals come despite ongoing unease in Washington over Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s treatment of political opponents, with rights groups estimating that Egypt holds about 60,000 political prisoners.
Many prisoners continue to languish in abusive conditions, but Sisi has consistently denied there are political prisoners in Egypt and has instead framed the crackdown as part of a fight against terrorism.
In September, the U.S. withheld $130mn in military assistance to Egypt, called Foreign Military Financing or FMF, less than a tenth of the total $1.4bn that Washington sends to Cairo each year.
The Biden administration said it would only release the funds if the government of Sisi delivered on a set of human rights demands.
Those conditions, according to The Washington Post, are ending the detention of 16 Egyptians politically targeted by Cairo, and ending Case 173 of 2011, a politically motivated case in which 43 foreign and domestic NGO employees were sent to prison and a number of civil society groups, including Freedom House, were shut down.