The proceedings of the Egyptian-Russian military exercise (Friendship Protectors 2016), that Egypt hosts for the first time from 15 to 26 October, 2016, kicked off on 16/10/2016 with the participation of elements of Egyptian and Russian airborne forces.

This comes as part of the plan of joint military drills between the Egyptian Armed Forces and several brotherly and friendly states. 700 fighters participate in the joint military training. 20 light and heavy equipment are used in 60 organized sorties carried out by 30 Egyptian and Russian warplanes of different models.

The initial stages of the (Friendship Protectors 2016) will include presenting several theoretical and practical lectures to identify the objectives of the joint military drills and find out the technical characteristics of the weapons, equipment and mechanisms of command and control as well as gaining necessary field skills and tactics used by both sides in implementing various tasks.

The Egyptian-Russian military war games fall within the two countries’ keenness to boost strategic cooperation between their armed forces in many fields.