US okays deal to sell Egypt early warning aircraft Hawkeye, deal opposed by Israel

Hawkeyes For Sadat

Even as the US struggles to cope with the indirect fall-out from last month's daring Israeli raid on Iraq's nuclear plant, there are reports that the Reagan Administration has okayed a deal to sell Egypt an unspecified number of early warning aircraft. The aircraft in question, the E-2C, commonly known as Hawkeye, is a sophisticated electronic surveillance plane essentially meant for detection of low-flying enemy aircraft. The Hawkeye is less expensive than the Boeing company's Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), which the US is selling to Saudi Arabia - a deal bitterly opposed by Israel.

According to sources, the deal with Egypt was signed during the recent visit to Washington of Sadat's defence minister, Lt-Gen Mohammad Abu Ghazala. Ghazala carried a message from Sadat which informed the US Government that he was getting increasingly worried about Libya, whose military arsenal is twice as large as Egypt's. To buttress his argument, Sadat quoted Egyptian intelligence reports of Cuban, Soviet and East German pilots currently operating many of Gaddafi's 425 fighter-bombers.To keep tabs on Libyan air activity, Sadat said he urgently needed the Hawkeyes. According to the reports, Sadat also put in an indent for F-16 fighters and M-60 tanks that the US has already promised to supply him. In return, he is willing to sign a deal that would give the US two bases in Egypt for its Rapid Deployment Force. The deals are expected to be finalised when the Egyptian President visits Washington in the next few weeks.