Helmy Afify Abd El-Bar

Helmy Afify Abd El-Bar
Commander of the Egyptian Air Defense Command
In office January 1975 – December 1979
President	Anwar Sadat
Preceded by	Mohammed Aly Fahmy
Succeeded by	El-Said Hamdy
Personal details
Born	13 July 1922
Military service
Allegiance	Egypt
Service/branch	Air Defense Forces
Years of service	1942-1979
Rank	Colonel General
Unit	22nd King's Own Artillery Regiment
Commands	2nd Air Defense Division 1st AD Brigade, 1960-64.

^[1] General Dr. Helmy Afify is a highly decorated veteran Egyptian military commander and war hero. He was commissioned from the Military College on June 1942 in an Artillery regiment of the Egyptian Army. He was aide de camp to General Anwar Sadat between 1954 and 1956. He was chief staff officer and chief of operations in an Artillery Brigade in the 1956 War. He commanded an Air Defense Division from 1965 till 1969, and was the Chief of Operations and Staff of the Air Defense Forces from 1969 till 1975. He was commander-in-chief of the Air Defence Forces from Jan.1975 to Dec.1979. He was Deputy Chairman of the Arab Organization for Industrialization between 1979 and 1984, and retired from public life after that.

He completed the basic officer's course in Air Defense from the Soviet Union in 1958-59 and completed his PhD from the Govorov Air Defense College in 1970. His thesis was on providing Air Defense cover and protection to heavy Field Artillery units in open desert terrain, and combined operations between the two branches.

References