The State Department portrays the Erdogan-Sisi rapprochement as a “diplomatic victory” that will “calm” the Eastern Mediterranean. The record shows the opposite. Two of the region’s largest conventional militaries are now training together while Ankara embeds Turkish defense production inside Egypt’s armed forces.In September 2025, Turkish and Egyptian warships conducted their first joint naval exercise in 13 years. “Friendship of the Sea” ran for five days in the Eastern Mediterranean and included frigates, fast-attack craft, submarines, and Turkish F-16 support. In June 2026, the two air forces followed with multiday combat training across multiple Egyptian bases, using F-16s for coordinated operations. Turkish and Egyptian special forces had already trained together in Ankara the previous April. These were not courtesy calls. Together, they field well over 750,000 active personnel backed by substantial armored, naval, and air forces.
The industrial component is even more consequential. During Erdogan’s February 2026 visit to Cairo, Turkey’s state-owned MKE signed a $350 million defense package with Egypt’s Ministry of Defense. It includes a $130 million sale of the Tolga short-range air-defense system, built to destroy drones and low-flying threats, plus new Egyptian production lines for 155 mm artillery shells and smaller-caliber ammunition. Local manufacturing gives Cairo sustainment independence while locking Turkish technical standards and supply chains into one of the Arab world’s largest armies. Eighteen separate agreements on defense, trade, and investment were signed at the same meeting.
