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U.S. Military Contractor: 'No Change' Yet In Egypt Weapons Work

An American F-16 fighter plane arrives at an airbase in Egypt on March 27, 1982.
Foley
/
AP
An American F-16 fighter plane arrives at an airbase in Egypt on March 27, 1982.

The Obama Administration is about to cut back military aid to Egypt, according to news reports this week. As we reported earlier this year, the $1.3 billion in aid goes to U.S. contractors, who make the planes, tanks, and other weapons the U.S. sends to Egypt. (In some cases, these weapons are going to Egypt against the advice of U.S. military advisors in Cairo.)

Today I spoke to two American military contractors who told me that, as of now, they're still working under the current Egypt weapon contracts.

"There's no change in the work we're doing. We continue to follow the guidance of our government customer," sayid Ken Ross, media spokesman for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. Rob Doolittle, media spokesman for General Dynamics told me that, "We have received no direction from the Defense Department to change our activity under our existing contract and are continuing to perform."

For more on U.S. military aid to Egypt — and why it has kept flowing despite the fact that, according to one expert, "There's no conceivable scenario in which they'd need all those tanks short of an alien invasion" — see our story from earlier this year.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Julia Simon
Julia Simon is the Climate Solutions reporter on NPR's Climate Desk. She covers the ways governments, businesses, scientists and everyday people are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She also works to hold corporations, and others, accountable for greenwashing.