Ahmed Shafik - Military Career

Military Career

As a young officer, Shafik served as a fighter pilot and was later appointed as fighter air squadron commander. During the War of Attrition (1967–1970), Shafik saw active service as the Multi-Task Airwing Commander. Subsequently he took up a post as an air base commander.

During the 1973 October War, Shafik was a senior fighter pilot under Hosni Mubarak's command. It is believed that Shafik shot down two Israeli aircraft during the war on 14 October 1973.

During his 40 years of service in the Egyptian Air Force as a fighter pilot, he flew several types of fighter jets including the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 and the Dassault Mirage 2000; he also acted as the wing commander for the Egyptian Air Force acrobatic team. He is also fully qualified on the American-built McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.

In 1984 Shafik was appointed a military attaché in the Egyptian Embassy in Rome. He continued in this role until 1986. From 1988 to 1991, Shafik served several military senior command positions before he was appointed as the Commander of the Air Operations Department.

In September 1991, Shafik was appointed as the Air Force's Chief of Staff, holding this position until April 1996, when he became Commander of the Egyptian Air Force. In 2002 after resigning from the military service, he was appointed as Minister of Civil Aviation and was succeeded by his chief-of-staff Air Marshal Magdy Galal Sharawi.

On 10 July, Shafik made his first public appearance since resigning as Prime Minister. He attended the graduation ceremony of the Egyptian Air Force Academy class along with the Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces. In November 2011, Shafik announced his candidacy in the Egyptian Presidential Elections.