BEIRUT — As defense firms from around the world gather this week in Cairo for the Egypt Defence Expo (EDEX), Egypt’s state-owned Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) has taken the opportunity to sign a raft of agreements with international companies.
The firm’s Facebook page has been busy, chronicling more than a dozen announcements since the start of the show with firms from Pakistan to the UAE.
Some key deals reflect Egypt’s unique geostrategic position in the world: AOI partnered with French firm Dassault Aviation on aircraft parts; Chinese defense giant China North Industries Cooperation (Norinco) for co-production of a new drone; and displayed a new ground vehicle produced in conjunction with Turkey’s Havelsan.
As for Dassault, Chairman of AOI Maj. Gen. Mokhtar AbdelLatif told an Egyptian news outlet that negotiations “have been ongoing for two years, for localizing production of parts of the Rafale [fighter jet] and Falcon [converted business jet].”
AbdelLatif said AOI signed a “purchase agreement with Rafale, for Falcon spare parts, which will be produced at AOI facilities in Egypt.” AOI is now “part of Dassault’s international supply chain,” he said.
Meanwhile, looking to the East, AbdelLatif discussed multiple cooperation agreements with Chinese firms on unmanned systems, including a newly signed agreement with state-owned Norinco to produce most of the unmanned aerial vehicle dubbed Hamza-2.
“We will produce 85 percent of this drone in our facilities in Egypt. It is a tactical UAV and can perform [both] surveillance and combat missions, equipped with a camera and two anti-tank missiles,” AbdelLatif said in the TV interview.
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The Hamza-2 made its international debut at the show, ahead of production expected to begin in in 2026.
AbdelLatif said AOI is cooperating with another Chinese firm, which he did not identify, to produce mini-drones as well.
“Each soldier can be armed with four drones, three kilograms [6.6 lbs.] each and of three kilometer [1.9 mile] range. It is launched manually and the soldier can control its path,” AbdelLatif said.
There’s also a one-way attack drone in the works with a separate unnamed Chinese firm, he said. That one will have “60 percent local production, [and] it is launched from portable launchers to attack anti-armored surfaces, and has a range of 6 km. We have tested it for efficiency and we are in the process of serial production.”
AOI inked an agreement with Chinese Shadow Wings firm to localize production of defense tech.
The extensive cooperation on unmanned systems is likely to make some Western observers even more nervous than they already were about what appeared to be tightening ties between Beijing and Cairo in recent years.
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Elsewhere the North African nation signed an agreement with Pakistan’s GIDS to explore areas of defense production localization in Egypt. GIDS manufactures a number of defense systems, including UAVs, missiles, bombs and electronic warfare platforms.
AOI signed seven agreements with firms from the United Arab Emirates to work on localizing production or performing maintenance and overhaul services for a number of Emirati defense firms.
At AOI’s stand at the show, it also unveiled a six-wheeled unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) called Aqrab — Arabic for Scorpion — that was the result of a previous coproduction agreement with Turkish defense firm Havelsan.
AbdelLatif said the vehicle is suitable for “all terrain” and can be “equipped with multiple launchers.”
Havelsan told Breaking Defense that the UGV is the outcome of a March agreement to coproduce UGVs with Kader Factory for Developed Industries, affiliated with AOI.
The Aqrab, which uses Havelsan’s autonomous capabilities, was produced in three months in Egypt and is ready for mass production, an official at Havelsan told Breaking Defense.
Also in cooperation with Havelsan, AOI unveiled a vertical take-off and landing surveillance UAV, the Hamza-1, which AbdelLatif said was the product of an earlier team-up with Havelsan, at the time Havelsan’s first cooperation with a Turkish firm.
During EDEX 2025 AOI didn’t ink any agreement with American firms, but AbdelLatif said that cooperation is ongoing with Honeywell in which AOI is manufacturing parts of engines for the M1A1 Abrams tank. The initial agreement with Honeywell was signed in September 2024 during Egypt’s air show.