Rafale jets back on? Egypt quietly signed a communications security agreement with the US back in January that will likely allow the country to purchase US-made high-precision GPS-based air-to-ground weapons systems and components, such as the Rafale fighter jets it is looking to purchase from France’s Dassault Aviation, according to Canada Free Press. Dassault had said in March that it needs US authorization to sell Egypt 12 Rafale jets equipped with US-made Scalp cruise missiles, which the US had been refusing to do, claiming the move violates US International Air Traffic in Arms Regulations.

On a related noted, Egypt is one of Germany’s top destinations for arms sales, as Cairo has been forced to look away from the US and “seek weapons from other sources,” according to Defence Web. “In the past five years, German defence exports to Egypt have jumped by 205%.” In 2017 alone, Germany approved 35 Egyptian requests for the purchase of German-made weapons and defense systems worth a total EUR 708 mn.