From 1955 onwards he became interested in the concept of Air Defense and proposed to President Nasser to further extend the existing Air Defense units in the Army which until then was only based on British 20mm Flak guns.

Between 1957 and 1961, six Air Defense battalions, grouped under 2 Brigades were raised from scratch under his supervision as General Staff Officer-II in charge of Operations in the Army HQ.

After the debacle of 1967, he prevailed upon Nasser to make the Air Defense a separate branch of the Armed Forces, based on the Soviet model.

In this capacity he was also the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and a close aide to President Sadat.

He resigned as Chief-of-Staff of the Armed Forces owing to opposition with Egypt's rapprochement with Israel and due to his conflict and rivalry with Hosni Mubarak, a man several years his junior but becoming more important than him in the corridors of power during the Sadat era.