Egypt approved for $4.7 billion upgrade of its Abrams main battle tanks

The US State Department has approved a request from Egypt to upgrade 555 of its General Dynamics Land Systems M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks into M1A1SA configuration under a deal which could be worth as much as US$4.7 billion.

Notification of the Foreign Military Sale approval was sent to Congress by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency and the former will still need to approve the sale.

The deal is for 555 sets each of Night Vision Technology Solutions AN/VAS- 5B Driver Vision Enhancer (DVE-A) kits and thermal imaging system gunner's sights. The request also includes M250 smoke grenade launchers, AGT-1500 tank engines, X-1100 tank transmissions, spare parts, support equipment and government-furnished equipment.

Shephard Defence Insight noted that the Egyptian Army operates a vast number of MBTs, including 1,130 M1A1s assembled in fits and starts between 1984 and 2019, as well as substantial numbers of legacy Soviet T-54, T-55 and T-62s and US M60s.

The older MBTs in Egypt's inventory had been projected to reach the end of their useful service life in the 2020s but this upgrade extends the life of the first M1A1s which rolled out of the factory four decades ago and is a substantial boost in capability.

At a time of high demand for MBTs the life extension allows Egypt to look forward to the next generation of MBTs which may be available beyond 2030.

Related Programmes in Defence Insight

MBT (Egypt)

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

M1/M1A1 Abrams