Washington is slowly and tentatively scaling back its embargo on the supply of big-ticket military hardware to the new regime in Cairo. The restrictions were imposed after the July 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi by a military committee led by Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The US ban was meant to punish Egypt for deposing the elected Egyptian government and its bloody suppression of pro-Morsi supporters in the aftermath of the coup. Its actions were in large part dictated by US legislation requiring Washington to sanction Egypt for its crackdown on dissent and short-circuiting of the democratic process.