Egypt International Airshow
Tuesday 3rd September - Thursday 5th September 2024
With airshows on the decline, along with shrinking air forces, it’s always nice when a new airshow comes along, even if it is as part of a trade show. For three days in September Egypt hosted its first ever international airshow, welcoming manufacturers and air forces from around the world.
reports from the inaugural Egypt International Airshow in El Alamein for UK Airshow Review. Photography by the author.
When you think of Egypt, you would normally think of pyramids, pharaohs and the Sphinx. Airshows are not something normally associated with Egypt, even though they have one of the most eclectic military fleets in the world, boasting both Russian and western types. One of the primary draws for aviation enthusiasts of this show was having a chance to photograph some of these in the flesh, given that their air force is generally inaccessible to photographers and journalists. In this respect the show certainly didn’t disappoint, with many Egyptian rotary and fixed wing aircraft on static display - however, other than the Egyptian Silver Stars display team, there were no displays from any of the Egyptian aircraft, this was to be expected as they don’t have any display pilots, nor have they participated in other airshows to the best of the author’s knowledge. Hopefully, with the success of this show that may change in future.
The show was officially opened by Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and ran from the 3rd to the 5th of September. The event was hosted at a purpose built facility at the El Alamein airport, which hopefully points to this becoming a regular (possibly biannual) event in the calendar. As any military history buff knows, El Alamein was the location for a number of key battles during World War 2, stemming the advance of the axis forces, before finally driving them back, proving pivotal in the North African Campaign. El Alamein is now an up and coming area, with considerable government investment being made to make this a new tourist hotspot on the Mediterranean coast. It is still fairly remote, being a 3-4 hour drive from Cairo, with the airport itself being even more remote, another 50 minutes from El Alamein.
The Egyptian Air Force sent a broad selection of aircraft for the static display, including many of their current fast jets. The Dassault Mirage 2000EM being probably the highlight, but also including one of the EAF’s latest Rafale DMs, one of their most modern block 52 F-16s and a pair of MiG-29M2s. There were also a number of transport types, such as a pair of Beech 1900s - both in ELINT and VIP configurations, numerous C295s and C-130H Hercules’ in VIP and cargo configurations - the cargo variants being particularly fetching in their two tone sand camouflage. Rotary types were well covered too, with one of Egypt’s Ka-52E ‘Nile Crocodile’ attack helicopters in the Rosoboronexport area, albeit with its marking covered up. The sand coloured Mil Mi-172 was also a highlight, operated by 55 Sqdn out of Beni Suef AFB.
The event was also well supported by nations from the Middle East and Türkiye. Saudi Arabia and the UAE sent aircraft for both the static and the flying display. The former sent a pair of RSAF 93rd anniversary specials - the lovely green and gold Typhoon and F-15C Eagle. There was also a plain Typhoon and the Saudi Hawks that took part in the flying display. The UAE probably sent the most aircraft of any foreign nation, with an AEW&C Saab GlobalEye, C295, C-17, A330 MRTT, F-16E, Mirage 2000-9 and the bizarre looking IOMAX Archangel - a suped up border patrol aircraft, developed from the Thrush S-2 agricultural crop duster. The UAEAF also participated in the flying display with both a Mirage 2000-9 and an F-16E. Qatar was another big participant, albeit only in the static park, with their Qatar Airways marked C-17, a pair of Typhoons and both an NH90 TTH and AH-64E Apache. Whilst Türkiye sent a pair of F-16s from 152 Filo based at Incirlik.
Shortly before the show it was announced that China would also be participating, sending both a Xi’an Y-20 strategic transport and the BaYi display team flying the Chengdu J-10. The BaYi display team is better known in the west as August 1st. The BaYi team were briefly on static display for the Egyptian President, before being swiftly wheeled away to a hangar off in the distance, however they did perform an impressive flying display on the Thursday of the show. The Y-20 displayed for the President on the Wednesday and was then on static display for all three days.
Also from further east, India sent a selection of Hindustan ALH Dhruvs, presumably in the hopes of attracting sales. These included a rather fetching blue and white Coast Guard variant on static, along with displays by both the Sarang Helicopter Display Team and an olive green Dhruv from the Indian Air Force.
Western nations also took part, with the French Air Force bringing the Rafale Solo Display on Dassault’s behalf, along with the Hellenic Air Force sending F-16 demo team Zeus. The USAF sent a selection of aircraft, with a pair of aircraft currently on active deployment in the Middle East - a 107th FS ‘Red Devils’ A-10C Thunderbolt and a 335th FS ‘Chiefs’ F-15E Strike Eagle - both of which clearly hadn't been cleaned in a while! There was also a Texas ANG C-130J Super Hercules and along with these, a pair of Aviano based F-16CMs from the 510th FS ‘Buzzards’ - one of which took part in the flying display on the Wednesday.
Of course, many participants take part in a trade show to attract sales and this was certainly the case for manufacturers Aero Vodochody, Leonardo and TAI, who all brought along their respective advanced trainer/light attack aircraft - the L-39NG, M-346FA and the Hurjet. The latter making its first ever display flight at a show in its fetching red and white livery. All three aircraft are all competing to meet Egypt’s RFP (Request for Proposals) for a light attack/lead-in fighter trainer and all three took part in the flying programme. Egypt is also looking to replace the MiG-29M2 due to US sanctions affecting parts supply and replace the Mirage 2000s due to their age. The Egyptian Air Force has expressed interest in the Typhoon, Rafale, J-10, F-16V and F-15EX, which goes some way to explaining why there were so many fast jet types in attendance at the show.
The flying display itself was a relatively limited affair, consisting of a short display slot in the morning and a similar length display slot in the afternoon. Some notable highlights of these displays were both the UAE F-16E and a punchy Mirage 2000-9 display, along with the Saudi Typhoon. It was a shame that each of the PLAAF acts only displayed on one day, it would’ve been nice to have seen more of them. The afterburning Hurjet display was also great to see from the manufacturers, although award for most annoying commentator has to go to the Leonardo M-346FA team, with their commentator that sounded like they’d poached her directly from the Thunderbirds display team!
By all accounts the event was a success, in fact a number of sales to the Egyptian Air Force were announced during and shortly after the show, including a pair of C-130Js and reports of Chengdu J-10Cs to replace some of their older F-16s! The event attracted some 15,000 visitors over the three days, along with 300 exhibitors and a veritable smorgasbord of air forces and aircraft, many rarely seen in the West. While the visitor numbers may not seem high, it has to be remembered that this is primarily a trade show, with no access to the general public.
All in all a great first start to the Egypt International Airshow, hopefully there will be many more to come in the future.