Egypt unveiled its colossal new military and state headquarters, dubbed the “Octagon,” which is both an engineering marvel and a not-so-subtle symbol of President Abdel Fatah al Sisi’s power.In a Hollywood-style video released on Sunday, Egypt revealed its State Strategic Command Center, a sprawling complex in the desert east of Cairo meant to serve as the new headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of Defense. The center blows away the competition to become the largest defense headquarters in the world, amounting to over 35 square miles — nearly the size of Lisbon, Portugal. This amounts to about 39 times the size of the entire Pentagon complex.It is located in Egypt’s “New Capital,” the country’s new administrative center, east of the sprawling Cairo.
Bigger than the Pentagon, by a lot
The video released by the government showed synchronized columns of motorcycles parting to escort Sisi’s motorcade, while being watched over by Apache helicopters, then greeted by soldiers and M1 Abrams tanks. The president showed up at the complex, donned in military dress uniform for the first time in over a decade.In his inaugural speech at the complex, Sisi set out a grand vision, portraying the complex as the embodiment of a new Egypt.“I renew before you the pledge that our glorious Egypt will continue, with its uncompromising and unbreakable will, the march of construction and development and laying the foundations of a modern state,” he said.“The choice of the new capital as the home of this structure was not a coincidence,” Sisi said. “It’s a living embodiment of the foundations of the New Republic.”The new command center wasn’t just for “running military situations,” he said, also serving as a “key base for the state’s capability to deal with challenges and exceptional circumstances with a comprehensive vision and advanced systems that place the security and stability of the nation above all else.”The complex consists of ten buildings and 13 zones, each with a specific role. These roles include a coordination center for the MOD, a unified state strategic data center, a closed strategic network control center for administrative matters, an administrative center for the state’s agencies, a national communications control center, centers administering emergencies and field security services, and even a weather forecast center.Each of the 10 buildings, eight surrounding the two in the center, have eight sides, hence the name.To support the legions of personnel it will need, the Octagon also contains places of worship, sports clubs, hotels, schools, sports fields, residential areas, malls, hospitals, and more, all guarded by two units of Egypt’s elite Republican Guard.The Washington Examiner reached out to the Egyptian Embassy for comment and further details.The stress on integrating data, communications, and response time comes from Egypt’s investment in its artificial intelligence-incorporated Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance infrastructure, capabilities it hopes will give it a leg up on its competition in future conflicts.The United States, Egypt’s foremost ally, used AI as an integral part of military operational planning and live target acquisition for the first time in Operation Epic Fury. The increased effectiveness this enabled was reflected in the conflict’s heavily lopsided casualties.While the Octagon seems a deliberate upstaging of the U.S., it couldn’t have come about without Egypt’s close alliance with the U.S. Egypt is the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign military aid, surpassed only by Israel.The alliance is going stronger than ever, thanks in part to Sisi’s close personal relationship with President Donald Trump. Trump declared last month that he “fell in love” with Sisi.Trump featured in Sisi’s speech inaugurating the Octagon, with the Egyptian leader hailing his efforts, which “resulted in the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement to end the war in Gaza, and his subsequent success in reaching an agreement to end the war with Iran.”The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department and Department of War for comment.Coup-proofing Egypt