It was initially reported that the crash involved a Dassault Rafale
On Jan. 28, 2019 several media outlets reported that a Rafale fighter jet belonging to the Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya (Egyptian Air Force, EAF) crashed during a training sortie which coincided with French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Cairo. Major Mohtady “Cobra” Shazly of the 203rd Tactical Fighter Wing was reportedly killed in the accident.
However according to Scramble Magazine Facebook page, this news appeared to be incorrect.
In fact it was an EAF HAIC/PAC K-8E Karakorum jet trainer that crashed on Jan. 28, and not a Rafale. 2019.
The pilot killed in the K-8 accident was a Rafale pilot. Actually he was was one of the first Egypt pilots flying the Rafale.
The K-8E is developed for export to Egypt, and eighty were delivered to the EAF from 1999. Most aircraft are built in Egypt from Chinese-supplied kits. The delivery was completed by 2005. At the same time, Egypt ordered forty more K-8Es which were delivered by 2010. The trainers are believed to be all based at El Minya air base (Egypt), assigned to the Flying Training Brigade, 201 squadron.
On Feb. 16, 2015, Egypt became the Rafale’s first international customer when it officially ordered 24 Rafales, as part of a larger deal (which also included a FREMM multipurpose frigate and a supply of missiles) worth US$5.9 billion (€5.2 billion). Egypt’s order has 8 single-seat models and 16 two-seaters. In July 2015, the official ceremony marking the acceptance by Egypt of its first three Rafales, was held at the Dassault Aviation flight test center in Istres. In January 2016, Egypt received three more Rafales for a total of six fighters. All six aircraft are two-seat models (Rafale DM) and were diverted from delivery to the French Air Force. Egypt received the third batch of three Rafale fighter jets (which also were the first single-seat Rafales to join the Egyptian Air Force and were designated Rafale EM) from France in April 2017. Egypt took delivery of the fourth batch of two Rafale EM fighter jets in July 2017. The Egyptian Air Force was set to receive three more Rafale fighter jets in 2017, increasing the number of aircraft in service to 14 Rafales.
In June 2016, it was reported that Egypt was in negotiations with Dassault to acquire 12 additional Rafales for a total of 36.
Photo credit: Dassault and Oren Rozen, own work via Wikipedia
