EGYPT SIGNS LETTER OF REQUEST FOR BORDER EQUIPMENT

UNCLAS CAIRO 003370 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PTER MASS MARR MOPS EG SUBJECT: EGYPT SIGNS LETTER OF REQUEST FOR BORDER EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING REF: CAIRO 3308 ¶1. (SBU) We have received a Letter of Request (LOR) from the Egyptian Procurement Office, dated November 27, requesting the $23 million in equipment and training recommended by the Army Corps of Engineers-led survey team. The team, headed by Dr. Jason McKenna of the Army Corps of Engineers, was in Egypt earlier this month to assess the situation at the Egypt-Gaza border and to make recommendations for tunnel detection and network mapping equipment to increase the security of that border. ¶2. (SBU) Based on the team's briefing at the MOD on November 21, Minister of Defense Tantawi instructed the Egyptian Armaments Authority to submit an LOR according to the team's recommendations. (A scanned version of the LOR has been passed to NEA/ELA separately.) ¶3. (SBU) Equipment requested in the LOR includes the following: -Unmanned Group Vehicles (5) -Install along 8 km affixed-emplacement, passive seismic-acoustic tunnel activity detection system to identify new construction and recurring use of existing tunnels, with all required installation and three years maintenance and spare parts; -Handheld thermal imaging devices (50); -Overwatch IR cameras (10); -Land-Mobile Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) systems (ATV Towed) (2); -Truck-mounted drilling rig (3); -Outfit a command and control center at a site designated by MOD; -Training; -Sustainment training with TLA; and -Follow on site survey support for the US Army Engineer R&D team. Next steps -------------- ¶4. (SBU) OMC Egypt is working with McKenna and his team to get the technical specifications for the equipment and parts needed for the project. OMC and the Egyptian Armament Authority will pursue a sole source waiver for some of the equipment including, for example, small robots for use in the tunnels, to speed the purchasing process. Assuming that they can put the technical specs together in the next few days, OMC hopes to review the request with the Egyptian Armaments Authority and to submit it to USASAC by December 10. They expect to submit the sole source waiver request at the same time. The ultimate goal is to get a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) back from USASAC by January 15. At that point, the MOD would sign the LOA and begin implementation of the procurement. RICCIARDONE