About 200 servicemen of the two countries took part in the active phase of the exercises
INSHAS /Egypt/, October 27. /tass/. The final stage of the joint exercises of Russian and Egyptian paratroopers "Defenders of Friendship - 2021" was held on Wednesday near Cairo. The active phase with practical landing and tactical actions was carried out at the Egyptian Armed Forces training ground Wadi Sakran near the city of Inshas, 60 km from the Egyptian capital, a TASS correspondent reports.
About 200 servicemen of the two countries took part in the active phase of the exercises, who landed on controlled special-purpose parachute systems of the "wing" type in the desert from altitudes from 600 to 3.5 thousand m. According to the scenario, after landing and collecting at the landing site, the paratroopers performed an element of capturing and holding the border settlement where the terrorists were entrenched, with the release of the hostages they had taken and further operation to assist the local population.
Four Il-76MD military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces were involved in the landing, which delivered personnel of the combined Russian-Egyptian unit and six BMD-2K-AU units with the PBS-916 parachute-free system to the landing area, as well as C-130 Hercules and C-295 Casa transporters, Chinook and Mi-17 helicopters of the Egyptian Air Force.
Welcoming the paratroopers of Russia and Egypt who took part in the active phase of the exercises, the commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, thanked them for the successfully completed task and professional actions, wishing them success in their future service.
The commander of the paratroopers of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Divisional General Atif Ibrahim Mady, highly appreciated the coherence of the actions of the joint group, the professional level of training of the troops, pointing out the need to continue further coordination and exchange of experience to counter modern challenges, primarily terrorism.
Following the results of the active phase of the exercises, the command of the consolidated contingent stated the fulfillment of all assigned tasks, the absence of unforeseen incidents and circumstances or the failure of weapons, military and special equipment. The exercises were attended by military attaches of a number of African states, as well as Russian Ambassador to Egypt Georgy Borisenko.
The course of the exercises
The joint Russian-Egyptian tactical exercises "Defenders of Friendship - 2021" are held from October 17 to 29 at the base of the Egyptian Armed Forces parachute unit. They involve a combined unit of paratroopers of the two countries with a total of more than 500 military personnel.
As reported in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, earlier Russian instructors in airborne training trained their colleagues from Egypt to make a jump from Il-76 aircraft.
During the active phase of the exercises at the Avsag landing site, using special-purpose parachute systems "Arbalet-1", Russian paratroopers together with a special-purpose group of Egyptian paratroopers on guided parachutes MS-5 previously practiced landing on the territory of the designated object from aircraft.
History of the exercises
The joint Russian-Egyptian tactical exercise "Defenders of Friendship" is being held for the fifth time. For the first time, Russian and Egyptian paratroopers practiced joint tactical actions near the city of Alexandria in the republic in 2016. In 2017, joint exercises were held in the Krasnodar Territory on the basis of the Novorossiysk Guards Airborne Assault Mountain Unit of Airborne Troops.
In 2018, in Egypt, participants in joint exercises honed their skills at the parachute landing compound near Cairo. In 2019, for the first time, servicemen of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Belarus took part in joint exercises. The exercises were held at the Dubrovichi training ground of the Tula Guards Airborne Unit in the Ryazan region.
