An undated photo of the ENS S. Ezzat, an Egyptian Fast Missile Craft. VT Halter Marine Photo
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a Thursday statement implying it would look to countries other than the U.S. for military hardware.
The statement said the country would secure its “vital needs” for national security, according to a report in the Associated Press.
The statement follows a Wednesday announcement from the U.S. State Department it would delay the delivery of high dollar weapon systems in Egypt during its ongoing political unrest.
“We are not able to continue to with business as usual,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf in a Wednesday press briefing.
“Following on the result of the review directed by President Obama, we will announce the future of our assistance relationship with Egypt once we have made the appropriate diplomatic and congressional notifications.”
The State Department announcement follows reports in August of the Obama administration quietly putting on hold $585 million of Egypt’s $1.6 billion annual U.S. aid.
Tied up in the deal are 500 General Dynamics M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks, 20 F-16 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Falcons and four VT-Halter Marine fast missile craft for the Egyptian Navy. Two of the four FMCs were scheduled to be delivered this year, along with an order of Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters that have been paid for but not delivered.
