Chinese pilots flying alongside Egyptians in extensive joint military drills above Nile

BANGKOK — It’s a long way from the Great Wall of China to the Egyptian pyramids, but Chinese and Egyptian warplanes are conducting a joint military exercise for the first time above the Nile, extending Beijing’s reach into Africa.

Chinese fighter jets, airborne early warning and control planes, aerial refueling tankers and helicopter gunships have been roaring across the sky alongside the Egyptian air force’s MiG-29s and other aircraft after taking off from Egypt’s Wadi Abu Rish Air Base in the desert.

The China-Egypt Eagles of Civilization 2025 joint air force exercise began on April 19 and ends in early May. It is expected to strengthen Beijing’s links with Africa’s strongest military and a strategic U.S. ally.

China maintains an East African naval base in Djibouti on the Red Sea.

Cairo, hoping to diversify, is welcoming Beijing’s interest and possible Chinese weapons sales.

“This will help enhance technical and tactical capabilities of the two air forces and deepen substantive cooperation between the Chinese and Egyptian militaries,” Senior Col. Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for the Chinese National Defense Ministry, told a news conference Thursday.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft are being used in training with Egyptian air force assets.

The air combat exercises include Chinese midair refueling with a Y-20U aerial tanker, air support, battlefield search and rescue, and a Kong Jing-500 airborne warning and control system.

Beijing also sent China’s stealthy J-10 Vigorous Dragon fighter jets, known by NATO as Firebirds. These jets are prized for their dogfighting maneuverability, precision strikes and the ability to be configured with air-to-air and air-to-ground bombs. According to reports quoting the China 3 Army Telegram channel, the drills included Chinese anti-radiation missiles and a 23 mm cannon.

Egypt’s MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrum multirole fighters and other aircraft have filled the skies above the desert base hosting the drills about 60 miles west of the Gulf of Suez, about 4,500 miles from Beijing.

“The [Chinese] air unit has adopted a mixed force formation that combines air transfer and aerial transportation, which ensured full deployment of all personnel and equipment,” China’s CCTV said.

“It has been suggested that China can use the exercise to train against relatively modern MiG-29s, a type that remains a primary fighter for the Indian Air Force and Navy,” said The War Zone, a Florida-based military website.

“The Egyptian MiG-29M/M2 share many similarities with the Indian Air Force & Indian Navy’s MiG-29UPG & MiG-29K such as the same avionics suite,” it said.

China and India fought a brief war in 1962, which New Delhi lost, resulting in the seizure of Himalayan mountain territory by each side.

“With the real possibility of drastic [U.S.] foreign aid cuts to beneficiaries like Egypt, Cairo could see Beijing as an alternative to Washington’s largesse and resulting attached strings,” The War Zone said.

“Significant US military aid to Egypt has been frozen and unfrozen in recent years, as successive U.S. administrations weigh human rights concerns against Cairo’s ability to assist in different geopolitical crises,” reported Breaking Defense, a New York-based online military site.

“It is China that is building Egypt’s new capital city, intended to be an international gem in beauty, architecture, wealth and grandeur,” Lt. Col. Eli Dekel told Maariv news. He is a former Israeli intelligence officer and an expert on Egypt.

China is “also building at least two very important, large ports in Egypt, in Abu Qir. China has a lot of involvement, so I’m not surprised they are conducting this exercise,” Col. Dekel said, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Abu Qir Peninsula and Bay are northeast of Alexandria on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. They are valued for their natural gas production and sheltered waters.