Egypt has asked to buy tens of thousands of tank rounds from General Dynamics in a U.S. foreign military sale worth as much as $99 million. The US State Department has signed off on the potential sale that would include high-explosive rounds to be used by the Egyptian forces against ISIS militants in the country especially then restive the Sinai Peninsula.
The notification comes as ISIS last month claimed responsibility for an attack on an Egyptian police checkpoint in northern Sinai — and as Egyptian security forces reportedly foiled an attack on a checkpoint west of the city of al-Arish. Egyptian armed forces will receive the following when the sale goes through:
- 46,000 120mm Target Practice – Tracer (M831A1) and 120 mm Target Practice, Cone Stabilized, Discarding Sabot – (M865) rounds.
- 10,000 120mm 4th-Generation Kinetic Energy-Tungsten (KE-W) A4 Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot with Tracer (APFSDS-T) rounds, to replace older model 120MM KE-W, KE-W Al, and KE-W A2 ammunition to maintain a strategic munitions inventory for its M1A1 tank fleet.
- 4,500 120mm Insensitive Munitions High Explosive with Tracer (IM HE-T) tank rounds.
- Associated equipment, training, and logistical support. The proposed sale would involve multiple trips to Egypt involving up to six U.S. government and contractor representatives over a period of up to 5 years.
