The Western Military Region is one of the five military regions of the

Egyptian Armed Forces The Egyptian Armed Forces ( arz, القُوّات المُسَلَّحَة المِصْرِيَّة, alquwwat almusalahat almisria) are the military forces of the Arab Republic of Egypt. They consist of the Egyptian Army, Egyptian Navy, Egypti ...

and is headquartered in

Marsa Matrouh Mersa Matruh ( ar, مرسى مطروح, translit=Marsā Maṭrūḥ, ), also transliterated as ''Marsa Matruh'', is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located west of Alexandria and east of Sallum on the main highway ...

. In 1989-90, the regional commander "controlled armored forces supplemented by commando, artillery, and air defence units (possibly totaling the equivalent of a reinforced division) that were stationed at coastal towns in the west and in the Western Desert facing Libya." Stratfor.com claimed on November 15, 2014 that the region's forces consisted of mostly armored and motorized infantry units: "At the moment, the bulk of these units consist of three brigades based in Mersa Matruh, with smaller forward units stationed in

Sidi Barrani Sidi Barrani ( ar, سيدي براني ) is a town in Egypt, near the Mediterranean Sea, about east of the Egypt–Libya border, and around from Tobruk, Libya. Named after Sidi es-Saadi el Barrani, a Senussi sheikh who was a head of i ...

and

Sallum Sallum ( ar, السلوم, translit=as-Sallūm various transliterations include ''El Salloum'', ''As Sallum'' or ''Sollum'') is a harbourside village or town in Egypt. It is along the Egypt/Libyan short north–south aligned coast of the Mediterra ...

." The Western Military Region conducts the "Thunder maneuvers"

military exercise A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the com ...

annually. The "Raad 24" exercise was carried out at the end of October 2015.

Structure

As of 2018: * 21st Armoured Division in Sidi Barrani. The division is currently made up of the 1st Armored Brigade, 14th Armored Brigade, 18th Mechanized Brigade and 51st Med. Range Artillery Brigade and Equipped with

M60A3 The M60 is an American second-generation main battle tank (MBT). It was officially standardized as the Tank, Combat, Full Tracked: 105-mm Gun, M60 in March 1959. Although developed from the M48 Patton, the M60 tank series was never officially ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

s and M1A1

s.The Egyptian army will be the world's first to operate hundreds of upgraded T-90 tanks
October 15, 2019. During the 1973

October War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab state ...

against Israel, the 21st Armoured Division, under Brigadier General

Ibrahim El-Orabi Ibrahim Abdel Ghafour El Orabi ( ar, إبراهيم عبد الغفور العرابي , ); 20 May 1931 – 18 September 2019) was an Egyptian Army Lieutenant General and the 13th and former Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces. H ...

included the 1st Armoured Brigade commanded by Mohamed Taufik Abu Shady (killed), replaced by Colonel Sayed Saleh, the 14th Armoured Brigade commanded by Colonel Othman Kamel, and the 18th Mechanized Brigade commanded by Colonel Talaat Muslim. The division was located within

16th Infantry Division (Egypt) 16th Division or 16th Infantry Division may refer to: Infantry divisions * 16th Division (German Empire), a unit of the Prussian/German Army * 16th Reserve Division (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army in World War I * 16th Infa ...

's bridgehead, as of October 13. Its units were positioned in the center and the north of the bridgehead. The 14th Brigade had been involved in the crossing and, along with the 1st Brigade, participated in the Egyptian offensive on October 14; as a result, it had lost half of its operational tank strength. In the aftermath, Orabi's efforts to reorganize and replace armored losses were hampered by frequent artillery barrages and air strikes. On October 15, there were 136 tanks in the Egyptian bridgehead, unevenly split among Oraby's brigades: 66 with the 1st Armored Brigade, 39 with the 14th Armoured Brigade, and 31 in the 18th Mechanized Brigade. Despite their heavy losses, the Egyptian forces in the bridgehead outnumbered Reshef's force. * 33rd Mechanized Infantry Division (based in

) ** 130th Mechanized Infantry Brigade ** 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade ** 22nd Armored Brigade ** 66th Med. Range Artillery Brigade * 44th Independent Armored brigade * a medium-range artillery brigade * an engineer construction brigade * an engineer water brigade

Notes

References

* * * * {{Egyptian Army Military regions of Egypt Western Desert (Egypt)