In the years that followed 23 July Revolution of 1952, Egypt embarked on rebuilding its military capability including the Air Force. The former Soviet Union provided equipment, training and advisers with a large number of Soviet technical personnel based in Egypt.

After the 1973 war, Egypt turned to France and the USA with the delivery of Mirage 5's and F-4E's. Subsequently in early 1980s, this was followed by the Mirage 2000's and F-16C's being.The EAF also placed orders with the China for the  F-7 (upgraded MiG-21's) and recently K-8 trainers.

The thrust of EAF modernization program is both the  Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon and the Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters.

Although the Egyptian Air Force still retains many of the equipment and fighting doctrine, from the former Soviet Union’s era. But currently the training and equipment from the West, the EAF is considered Egypt's most elite and Western-looking armed service.

According to Jane’s Sentinel Security Assessment - North Africa (dated: Jul 15, 2011) the Egyptian Air Force:

Is the most capable air arm in North Africa, with even the Israeli Air Force speaking highly of the quality of its aircrew.