India, Egypt can cooperate in field of military R&D, manufacturing: Former IAF chief on PM Modi's State visit

New Delhi: At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his maiden State visit to Egypt, former Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria (Retd) on Saturday said both sides are keen to develop their own defence industrial base and can collaborate in the field of military R&D and manufacturing.
"In the field of defence, India and Egypt have had excellent bilateral relationships. Historically our defence forces have shared a close bond," Bhadauria told ANI. "We have a lot of commonalities of equipment, and thinking. Egypt is very keen to develop their own industrial base for their defence services in terms of new developments and ability to repair and sustain," he added.
The former IAF chief further said, "Given the commonalities in platforms and equipment, I think there is a huge potential to cooperate and collaborate in the field of defence R&D and manufacturing."
"There is a very significant possibility of exporting weapon systems, sensors and platforms and also supporting Egypt in their quest for indigenisation and building up their own industrial complex," Bhadauria added.
He said Prime Minister Modi's visit would substantially change the trajectory of mutual cooperation between the two countries in all areas of interest.
"India and Egypt are the two biggest operators of the Rafale combat aircraft after the original manufacturer country Rafale and have had many other systems in common. Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande had also recently visited Egypt for forging closer ties between the two sides," he said.
"A number of Indian defence manufacturing firms are also exploring opportunities of working in Egypt," he added.