A final shipment of 101 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles has completed a foreign military sales case to transfer 930 MRAPs to Egypt using the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) Grant Program.

The final shipment of over 100 MRAP vehicles transferred to Egypt under the EDA program agreement. Cairo has a requirement for 1000 more vehicles of this class / Picture: US Army

The final shipment of over 100 MRAP vehicles transferred to Egypt under the EDA program agreement. Cairo has a requirement for 1000 more vehicles of this class / Picture: US Army

The transfer includes M1232 RG33L, M1233RG33L HAGA, M1237 RG33 Plus, M1220 Caiman, and M1230 Caiman Plus vehicles, as well as MRAP Recovery Vehicles. Training is included in the package and is ongoing and scheduled in accordance with the Egyptian land forces needs and requests.

Under the grant program, the MRAP vehicles are transferred at no cost to the Egyptian government. Egypt is responsible for arranging shipment of the EDA MRAPs from Sierra Army Depot in California to Egypt.

According to Security Assistance Command (USASAC) Country Program Manager, Shawn Arrance, these vehicles will be used by Egypt to fight against terrorism and are part of a broad range of military cooperation initiatives between the two countries.

After arrival in Alexandria, Egypt, in May, the MRAP vehicles were loaded onto trains to be taken to a military workshop in Cairo for refurbishment.

The final delivery filled the requirement for 930 MRAP vehicles, approved in 2015 agreement. Since the initial case back in September 2015, Egypt has submitted another Letter of Request (LoR), which initiates an FMS case, for an additional 1,000 MRAPs, Arrance said. 

USASAC and Tank Automotive and Armament Command Security Assistance Management Directorate (TACOM SAMD) are working case development for an additional 700 MRAPs that have been identified and another 300 remaining to be selected, he said. We anticipate offering the case to Egypt in November. 

Egypt will then need to accept the offer to finalize the agreement for the additional 1,000 vehicles. The total case value for the 2,000 MRAPs is estimated to be $120 million.

MRAP refers to U.S. military light tactical vehicles that are designed specifically to withstand improvised explosive device attacks and ambushes. Excess defense articles are materiel that is no longer in the Army’s inventory and allows approved countries to request the materiel through the foreign military sales process.