The aircraft can also be used for maritime patrol and rescue missions, it added.

In a second deal, Egypt can buy ground-based air defence systems worth $355 million to help it fend off air threats.

The deals come despite ongoing unease in Washington over Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s tough treatment of political opponents, with rights groups estimating that Egypt holds about 60,000 political prisoners.

In September, the State Department put a hold on $130 million in military aid already budgeted for Egypt because of lack of improvement in the human rights situation in the country.

And in early November, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Egypt in bilateral talks to make “tangible and lasting improvements” on human rights.

But for fiscal year 2022, which began on 1 October 2021, the Biden administration budgeted $1.4 billion in bilateral assistance -- most of it military related -- for Cairo, the same as the previous year.



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