Egypt could be interested to buy Russian weapons after suspension military aide United States 021113.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy warned Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation and a longtime U.S. ally, would have to find "other sources" to supply its national security requirements.

The Cairo government has had little to say officially on what it plans to do to counter the U.S. action, possibly because it does not want to aggravate a highly sensitive situation.

There have been no formal indications from Cairo or Moscow that such an arrangement is under discussion but it would fit in with Russia's current Mideast strategy.

Washington has provided Cairo with more than $40 billion in military assistance in the last 34 years, around 80 percent of its annual military procurement budget.

It's also been a boon to U.S. defense manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Land Systems, which have provided Egypt with 224 F-16 jets and 1,100 Abrams M1A1 main battle tanks paid for out of the U.S. aid.

These weapons systems, and all the ancillary programs associated with them, replaced Soviet-era MiG fighters and T-72 tanks that Moscow began providing Egypt during the Cold War in the 1960s.

These have been phased out -- a process that continues -- since the late President Anwar Sadat, who signed the 1979 peace pact and was assassinated for doing so, booted out the Soviets in 1972, finally expelling Soviet diplomats in 1981.

It would be an immense shift in military procurement as well as the geopolitical landscape if Cairo sought to restore its old links with Moscow where President Vladimir Putin is driving to boost Russian arms sales across the Middle East in a bid to restore Moscow's influence as U.S. power wanes.