{"id":1884,"date":"2025-10-21T22:56:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/?p=1884"},"modified":"2025-10-21T22:58:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:58:51","slug":"rusko-arapski-most-oko-crvenog-mora-u-vazduhu-na-kopnu-i-na-vodi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/2025\/10\/21\/the-russian-arab-bridge-on-the-red-sea-in-the-air-on-land-and-on-water\/","title":{"rendered":"The Russian-Arab Bridge on the Red Sea: In the Air, on Land, and on Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It may seem unthinkable to many that US President Donald Trump would be protected by Russian air defences at a high-profile international gathering. Yet that is exactly what happened on the eve of and during the recent international peace conference on Gaza, co-chaired by Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the 47th US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Namely, the armed forces of Egypt\u2014otherwise a member of the BRICS countries\u2014have deployed Russian Buk-M2E medium-range air defense systems to elevated positions around the Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh, as part of enhanced security preparations for the Gaza Conference, and as part of \u201cprecautionary measures to protect the summit from any potential air threats, including drones and cruise missiles,\u201d The New Arab newspaper reported (https:\/\/www.newarab.com\/news\/russian-air-defence-system-protect-trump-sharm-el-sheikh).<\/p>\n

Who all could be the \u201cenemy\u201d in this case is not specified.<\/p>\n

(Meanwhile, Moscow recently opened a consulate in Sharm el-Sheikh, as part of a broader development of relations with Cairo).<\/p>\n

The Buk-M2E is one of the most advanced Russian medium-range air defence systems, which Egypt has been using for several years. It consists of tracked launchers and guidance vehicles (TELAR), command units and radar systems capable of simultaneously tracking and engaging multiple air targets.<\/p>\n

The Egyptian version of the system has a range of up to 45 kilometres (28 miles) and a maximum interception altitude of about 25 kilometres (15.5 miles). It is designed to suppress drones, cruise missiles, fighter jets and helicopters, and is resistant to electronic jamming in modern combat environments.<\/p>\n

Where else could the deployment of the Buk-M2E in the Red Sea be significant is an open question. Especially this year, when Moscow has since spring: \u201call the papers\u201d to open a military-naval station in the port of Port Sudan in neighbouring Sudan (it seems to have the expected capacity to receive nuclear submarines); modernizes the installations of the Maaten al-Sara air base in Libya, close to the border with Chad; and joins the increasingly intense geopolitical competition of many for a position in the port of Assab in Eritrea.<\/p>\n

This is especially due to the fact that Eritrea has a coastline of about 2,200 kilometres on the increasingly turbulent Red Sea. Moreover, the port of Assab, in the south of Eritrea, is close to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, only about 200 kilometres from the Yemeni port of Hodeida and 300 kilometres from Sana\u2019a, the capital stronghold of the local rebel movement \u201cAnsar Allah\u201d. The rebel Houthis are increasingly being linked to arms smugglers on the African shores of the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

A Russian bridge across the Red Sea could stretch to Bab el-Mandeb, perhaps even further into the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may seem unthinkable to many that US President Donald Trump would be protected by Russian air defences at a high-profile international gathering. Yet that is exactly what happened on the eve of and during the recent international peace conference on Gaza, co-chaired by Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the 47th US President Donald […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sea-new-dramas-on-the-horizon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1884"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1888,"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884\/revisions\/1888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vujic-geopolitika.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}