Egypt's powerful military

February 11, 2011 11:59:04 AM

EGYPT-PROTESTS/MILITARY (FACTBOX)

 Reuters World Service

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Egypt's powerful army, trying to defuse a popular uprising, promised on Friday to guarantee that President Hosni Mubarak's reforms would be carried out, but many angry protesters said this failed to meet their key demand that he resign immediately.

The tumult over Mubarak's refusal to resign has tested the loyalties of the armed forces, which may have to choose whether to protect their supreme commander or drop him.

Mubarak's ruling apparatus has relied on the military since he came to power in 1981. All four Egyptian presidents since the 1950's have come from the military, now led by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.

Here are some details of Egypt's military which totals around 468,500 active personnel, plus a reserve of 479,000:


* ARMY:
Numbers: 280,000 - 340,000 including conscripts.
Main Battle Tanks - 3,723, including 973 A1M1 Abrams tanks.
Reconnaissance vehicles - 410.
Armoured Infantry Fighting vehicles - 610.
Armoured personnel carriers - 4,160.
Artillery pieces 4,480 (including 492 self-propelled, 962 towed).
Mortars - 2,528.
Air Defence surface-to-air missiles - at least 2,100.
Tactical surface-to-surface missiles - over 42.

* NAVY:
Numbers: 18,500 including conscripts.
Submarines - 4 tactical patrol submarines.
Surface combatants - 10
Patrol and coastal combatants - 41


* AIR FORCE:
Numbers: 30,000 including 10,000 conscripts.
Combat capable aircraft - 461. 165 fighter aircraft -- 26 F-16A, 12 F16-B, 74 MiG-21F and 53 Mirage D/E.
Helicopters - 4 Commando electronic Intelligence
125 Electronic Attack helicopters

* OTHER FORCES:
-- There are also 150,000 Air Defence Command troops and 397,000 paramilitaries comprising Central Security Forces, National Guard and Border Guard forces.

SOME HISTORY:

-- The performance of the army during the October 1973 War helped restore the military's prestige after its defeat in the Six-Day war against Israel in 1967 and justified President Anwar Sadat's emphasis on professionalism and avoidance of civilian politics.

-- The armed forces have played a role in maintaining domestic stability previously, but only under the most compelling circumstances. These included the violent 1977 food riots and an uprising of conscripts of the Central Security Forces in Cairo and other cities in 1986.

-- The professionalism of the armed forces during these emergencies reinforced the public view that the army was the ultimate safeguard against militant Islamists or others who might threaten civil authority.

Sources: Reuters/IISS Military Balance 2010.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;