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Egypt reveals details of its ‘new military drones’

Egypt has unveiled video footage of its new unmanned aerial aircraft system which it recently added to its Air Force fleet

October 18, 2018 at 11:58 pm

Egypt has unveiled video footage of its new unmanned aerial aircraft system which it recently added to its Air Force fleet.

In a move which was described as a “major shift, the Egyptian Ministry of Defence yesterday released a documentary on its official social media pages, introducing the “Wing Loong” armed drones.

The video was published on the occasion of the 45th Air Force Day.

“The Egyptian military has been boosted with the latest global armament systems, including the multirole Rafale aircrafts, F-16 fighter jets, Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters and China’s Wing Loong armed aircrafts,” the ministry said in the video.

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The Egyptian army is one of the largest African armies that uses unmanned aerial vehicles, along with Nigeria and South Africa, according to the counter-terrorism and national security intelligence firm Strategic Intelligence Service.

Wing Loong, which is armed with China’s Blue Arrow-7 laser-guided missiles, is set to detect military combat aircrafts. It was first produced by China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in 2008.

In addition to the military functions, Wing Loong has the capability to perform civilian tasks such as disaster assessment, meteorological operations and environmental protection.