Bigger than Pentagon? Egypt inaugurates massive ‘Octagon’ military headquarters

Egypt officially inaugurated its new strategic command headquarters called the Octagon on July 4. It is a major milestone in the country's efforts to modernise its defence infrastructure especially at a time when there is growing tension in West Asia. The complex inaugurated by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is being termed by Egyptian officials as the country's most advanced command-and-control centre and one of the world's largest military headquarters.

Inaugurating the new command headquarters Sisi said “strategic command headquarters in the new capital ensures the integration of planning and coordination for all branches of the armed forces, enhances combat capabilities, and ensures constant readiness to effectively and efficiently confront challenges using the latest advanced technology systems, in a way that achieves the state’s strategic goals and contributes to securing its capabilities.”

The Octagon is being compared to Pentagon not because of its size or scale but the strategic role it is going to perform.

Just like Pentagon, which serves as the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, the Octagon unifies the nation’s military leadership, intelligence, operational planning, and crisis management into a single command structure.

Here we take a look at some of the features of the State Strategic Command Headquarters as it is officially known:

• The headquarter is spread over 22,000 acres of land and has eight central buildings with an octagonal geometric design
• According to Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) 13 integrated strategic and logistical zones make it the largest defence and administrative complex in the Middle East
• It houses a massively advanced digital infrastructure, dedicated to storing, processing, and protecting national data with the highest cybersecurity standards
• Described as a "miniature administrative and defence city" the campus houses four core functional divisions, command, logistics, training and national emergency management
• The complex is equipped with advanced command, control, communications and artificial intelligence systems