Before a cease-fire halted the fighting in the Middle East in August, Egypt's eastern defenses included squadrons of Soviet-piloted MIG-21s at Kutamiya and Salhiya. The planes were piloted by members of a 150-man Russian force in Egypt. Since the ceasefire, the pilots and their planes at the forward bases have been pulled back to airbases at Cairo West, Inshahs and Alexandria.
The ostensible reason is that Egypt's Russian-designed missile network is now strong enough to guard against any new Israeli incursions into Egyptian airspace. The real reason for the pullback, say some...
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