May 22, 2012 6:17 am

Hamdy Weheba, the Chairman of the Arab Organization for
Industrialization claimed this week that Egypt has started the
production of the ASN-209 Multi-purpose UAV System.







He claimed that although the UAVs are being built in collaboration with a
foreign defence manufacturer, more than 99% of the components are
locally manufactured. He claimed that with the latest manufacturing
venture, Egypt is entering in to the second phase of mass ASN-209
production. He said that the six drones which they had built during the
first phase are fully operational under the Egyptian armed forces.
The drone was developed by ASN Technology Group, which is a
specialized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Research and development
company based in China. ASN claims that their UAV is capable of
performing aerial reconnaissance, battle field survey, target location,
destroy validation and artillery fire adjustment. It is capable of
undertaking night time operations as well. According to the ASN
officials, the UAV is capable of undertaking missions which require it
to be on air continuously for up to 10 hours. The UAV is having an
operational range of 125 miles and is capable of supervising very large
areas.

The chairman further claimed that Egypt has recently completed the
manufacturing of a total of 120 Hongdu JL-8 intermediate jet trainer and
light attack aircraft. The aircrafts, which were developed by the China
Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation, were built and assembled
in Egypt under technology transfer agreements. In the first phase, a
total of 80 jets were built during the 1999-2005 period. The remaining
40 jets were manufactured during the second phase, which recently got
completed. In addition to the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) and the People’s
Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is also
using the JL-8 trainers, where it is known as Karakorum-8.

In addition to the JL-8, the EAF is currently operating many basic
and intermediate trainer aircraft such as the Embraer EMB 312 Tucano,
Grob G 115, and Aero L-39 Albatros in its fleet. It also uses the Hiller
OH-23 Raven military helicopters for training its pilots.


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