Egypt is building its own M1 Abrams tanks - and the Israelis are quite okay about it
Thanks to Geitner Simmons for telling me about this story. It seems the Egyptians build M1 tanks for themselves rather than buy ones made in the USA.

Since the late 1980's Egypt has produced 530 of the tanks at its Abu Zaabal Tank Repair Company. The M1 tanks it produces are U.S. designed — and are among the most powerful armored vehicles in the world. It recently started on additional hundred vehicles. With all of the spare parts and equipment, the contract costs Egypt over $500 million. Why, one wonders, are the Egyptians so keen on building the tanks themselves? The answer seems almost obvious. They wanted the jobs.

Egypt's generals would surely have preferred to have their tanks built at Lima, Ohio.

The story goes on to point out that because the manufacturing efficiency and quality of the Egyptian plant is somewhat lower than of the American plant, the Egyptian army is actually getting less bang for the buck than if it bought American-made tanks. Because the Egyptian government chose the domestic jobs their own plant offers over the greater military effectiveness of buying American, the Egyptian manufacture is really a financial boondoggle that reinforces the observation that Egypt's has no intention of war. So the Israelis are okay about it.