I completely agree with fredleander;
The greatest Egyptian victory was probably psychological.
YES... I totally agree! In the past the world saw conflicts as Arabs versus Jews. So whenever the Israelis won the previous conflicts, the Arab champion -Egypt (mainly), and the Arab community identified themselves as losers! This time it was different, Syria got its butt kicked -as usual but, Egypt won in the minds of many. America's help came at a time in which reserves was extremely low, such as 105mm ammunition came at a critical time and if the Israeli Army had to stop using this critical piece tank cannon and artillery, the Israeli Army would have to reconsider their offensive plans in crossing the Suez Canal!
Egypt's success caused the Arab world to feel psychologically vindicated by early successes in the conflict... it made a major difference in the peace negotiations. The ending of the war effectively ended Israel's sense of invincibility and complacency was shattered, once an for all.
Between 1967-73, the Six Day War to the Yom Kippur War, the Soviet Union supplied 400 T-62 tanks to Egypt. This included the last shippment which had 96 brand-new T-62 tanks with their 115mm cannons and its night vision capability. No Israeli tanks had any night vision ability at all. Egypt and Syria also recieved Sagger and Snapper Missiles before the war and the infantry learned how to use them.
First C-5 in "Operation Grass Nickel" did not arrive in Israel until the evening of Oct. 14th. By then, however, Israel counter-offensive was fully on the move and the tide of the war had begun to changed.
The first C-5s carried 97 tons of 105mm howitzer shells, and it arrived at a time when Israeli forces were down to their last supplies of ammunition. Another 829 tons would be delivered in the next 24 hours. C-5 Galaxies also delivered 36 A-4 Skyhawks from the U.S. From USAF stocks in Europe 40 F-4 Phantom fighters were flown to Israeli bases. The 268 C-141s and 77 C-5As, with this the USAF could sustain a steady flow of three C-141s every two hours and four C-5s every four hours-indefinitely! The C-5s carried 48% of the total cargo from the USA in only 145 of the 567 total missions. The C-5 fleet used 24% less fuel than the C-141s fleet. The performance of the C-5 in this operation justified its C-5's existence. (Now you can see another reason the USA's military budget is so large! To have all this equiptment plus the means to rapidly transport the goods any where in the world they are needed, very quickly.)
Twelve C-130's were transferred to the IDF/AF.
The sea lift portion of Operation Grass Nickel transported over 33,000 tons of equipment, most of the armor and other large items. The sealift first arrived in Israeli sea ports in November of 1973!
What Operation Grass Nickel provided Israel was the knowledge that they could go ahead use their reserve equipment or weapons with the knowledge that replacement weapons were on their way.
Avon I noticed Ure saying the soviets supplied but we paid every dime in those weapons from our money while nickel grass was aid for free
The total cost of Operation Grass Nickel was $800M (in 1970 US dollars). How much of this cost was actual weapons and supplies, I don't know. Most of the large equipment arrived by sea after the ceasefire. Paid for by US Foreign Military Loans.... you know those one and two percent interest loans!! (US Military sales and loans are part of a massive topic of which there is little information on, in the public sector.)
The Soviets charged their client states more, that did not have communist governments! States with communist governments or leftist revolutionary groups get free and or at very low priced weapons. Soviet weapons were cheaper to buy and getting lower prices made many things initially, affordable. Soviet versus American weapons in price are dramatically different. A MiG-21 (back in the early 70s) cost around $1.5M while an F-4 Phantom cost over $4M but, the MiG-21 is more expensive to operate than the F-4! Israel did pay $25M for their first F-15As! The Soviet Union also gives generous discounts depending upon relations between the two governments. The USA has higher price items and gives discounts from time to time but, the Foreign Military Loans provide interest rates which are difficult to beat!