Egypt goes ahead with the deal of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet even as US opposes

The Egyptian army will be acquiring the Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet for the first time from Russia as revealed by the media outlet Russia today when it was spotted that the fighter jets are being headed to Egypt. The reports have been doing around since earlier this year but the most we can come up with remains to be speculations as neither the Russian nor the Egyptian side confirmed this or made any official comments on the deal.

The United States has strong objections on this deal as it fears superiority of the Egyptian army in the region. The news site said, “The sources indicated that these heavy and long-range fighter jets would give the Egyptian army superiority in the regional sky, which is why the US strongly objected.”

The first batch of Sukhoi Su-35 have reportedly been taken from the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation plant to European side of Russia from where it will be taken to Egypt. When the talks were still going on, the US strongly condemned this move and even the experts have said that if this continues then this can lead to tensions between Cairo and Washington. Last year in march, Egypt had finalised the deal of $ 2 million to buy 24 Russian-made Su-35 fighter jets, including related equipment.

Egypt has been dependent on Russia for a lot of arms and ammunition and this buy will be added to the list of Rusian made weapons owned by Egypt which includes Mikoyan MiG-29M, Ka-52 Alligator and S-300VM. If the reports to be true then Egypt is only the second country to buy Sukhoi fighter jets after China.

The US secretary of the state had warned Egyptian Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi of sanctions if the deal continued under US CAATSA that prohibits the purchase of Russian military equipment. He also threatened that if they don’t scrap the deal then it will not be a defense deal with Egypt in the near future. While the former head of Egyptian’s army, Major Gen. Nasr Salem has very adamantly said that no one can question Egypt’s decision.

“Why doesn’t the US supply Egypt with the F-35 fighters that it supplied Israel with, since it is objecting to the Russian Su-35 fighters deal?” he asked, adding that Egypt's military seeks to acquire equipment equal to that owned by Israel.

Also, he highlighted the double standard approach that the US takes as it was America that gave Israel the F-35 fighters then why the change of attitude with Egypt.