The US State Department has approved a $304-million sale of AN/TPS-78 long-range radar to Egypt.
Cairo requested an unspecified number of the Northrop Grumman radars from the US, in addition to related equipment such as KIV-78 cryptographic devices, GPS devices with selective availability anti-spoofing modules, as well as spare and repair parts.
“The proposed sale will improve Egypt’s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to detect various air threats,” the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
“Egypt already operates a mixture of other radar systems and will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment and services into its armed forces.”
Northrop Grumman is the potential sale’s principal contractor.
AN/TPS-78 Radar
The S-band air surveillance radar system includes an advanced small target drone and maritime tracking subsystem with integrated automatic detection and tracking.
It is designed to track and detect all air and maritime moving targets within a range of 240 nautical miles (444 kilometers/ 276 miles).
The radar’s updates of 10 and 5 seconds are suitable for both ground control intercept missions as well as long-range air surveillance including tactical ballistic missile tracking.
It is highly mobile and can be moved on C-130 cargo planes, helicopters, trucks, and trains.
Previous Sale Approval
The approval comes over a month after Cairo was approved for a sale of over $5 billion in military equipment by the US.
It included the sale of $4.69 billion in equipment for 555 US-made M1A1 Abrams tanks operated by Egypt and over 2,000 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles for about $630 million.
