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Corsairoz
10th Feb 2012, 13:52
I wonder if anyone can assist with some information or recollections.

A distant relative of one of my friends recently passed away. Historically they are known in the family to have been associated with the contract of sale of Lynx Helicopters to the Egyptian Navy in the Sadat era, (probably in the early 70's?). The family has a newspaper cutting announcing the anticipated sale, but sadly this is not dated, we do not even know the newspaper name. I have put a scan below. The cutting is not in the best of condition.

An internet hunt has left me only knowing that the Egpytian variant (Mk 22) was never built and presumably the contract was never signed or delivered. I can find no reference for information easily accessible.

Can anyone provide a littlle more insight or point me at a good reference source?

Thank you in anticipation.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/corsairoz/cutting.jpg

Milo Minderbinder
10th Feb 2012, 14:47
from Arab Organization for Industrialization - eNotes.com Reference (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Arab_Organization_for_Industrialization)

"n 1978, AOI and Westland Helicopters (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Westland_Helicopters), a British (http://www.enotes.com/topic/UK) aerospace (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Aerospace) company, established the Arab British Helicopter Company as a joint venture, but a year later AOI announced the company's liquidation (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Liquidation). In ensuing arbitration (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Arbitration), the International Chamber of Commerce (http://www.enotes.com/topic/International_Chamber_of_Commerce) made an award (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Arbitration_award), on grounds of breach of the principles of natural law (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Natural_law) and good faith (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Good_faith), in favour of Westland Helicopters and against AOI's four member-states.[5] (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Arab_Organization_for_Industrialization#cite_note-4) This award was later annulled by the Court of Justice of Geneva (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Geneva), which annullment was upheld by the Swiss (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Switzerland) Federal Supreme Court (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Federal_Supreme_Court_of_Switzerland), on grounds that the arbitrators had jurisdiction over AOI but not over the organisation's member-states"
"Following the signing of the Egypt-Israeli peace treaty (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Egypt%E2%80%93Israel_Peace_Treaty) (1979), Egypt had its membership to the Arab League (http://www.enotes.com/topic/Arab_League) suspended and a policy of economic isolation implemented against it. It was in this atmosphere that the three AOI member-states other than Egypt - Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - withdrew from the AOI, causing its collapse"

Westland were still fighting the case in 1988


Thats an old memory......I never worked there but knew a lot who did. There was a contract placed in the late 1970's to buy Lynx for the Egyptian Navy, but it was cancelled . There were problems with the Commando Sea King variant contract as well - not all of those were delivered, and it took years of legal action to get paid for those that were. I have a vague memory that there was an intention to assemble Lynx and Sea Kings in Egypt from kits for sale to Saudi and other Arab countries. As far as I remember the cost involved in the cancellations, the lack of payment for deliveries and the cost involved in setting up the Egyptian assembly line were the direct contributors to the 1980's Westland crisis. It took years to get any compensation from the Egyptians, and even then it was a fraction of what was owed
I don't know which newspaper the clip came from, but the paper most likely to have any records would be the Western Gazette, in Yeovil. However the cutting is not from there


Theres still an Arab British Helicopter Co in Egypt, which built 100+ Gazelles. Wiki claims its 50% owned by Agusta Westland, but somehow that seems unlikely. Looks like it now carries our repairs for the Egyptian forces

Newforest2
10th Feb 2012, 14:52
Patrick Keatley was a Guardian reporter who died in 2005.

Obituary: Patrick Keatley | Media | The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/may/12/broadcasting.pressandpublishing)

Milo Minderbinder
10th Feb 2012, 14:59
digging around finds this old document (1999) https://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/egypt/facility/mark0033.htm

from which
6. Arab British Helicopters Co. (AOI)
Helwan Factory for Developed Industries Helwan El Hammamat, P.O. Box 73 Helwan No. 11421, Cairo Tel: 20-2-783-316/783-285 Attn: Dr. Eng. Salah El-Din Zaki Hussein Zaid, Chairman Production: Production of helicopters and overhauling of their engines.

7. Aarab British Engine Co. (ABECO) (AOI)
Helwan, P.O.Box: 71 Helwan, Cairo Tel: 20-2-783-622/783-208/788-029 & Fax: 20-2-789-652 Attn: Eng. Gen. Abdel Meguid Ibrahim Sayed Dawoud, Chairman Production: Production of the ASTAZOU - H14 engine of the Gazell helicopter, the T.V.2 engine used in the M1-8 aircraft. Cooperate with Rolls Royce in assembling, repair and overhauling of helicopter engines.


Looks like 100+ Gazelles were built there under licence

Thunderbird167
14th Feb 2012, 19:34
aoi | saudi arabia | egypt | 1979 | 1794 | Flight Archive (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%201794.html)

Background on what was planned is detailed in the above article.

Up to 250 helicopters in the deal