CAIRO: Russian warships arrived in Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Alexandria Saturday to participate in week-long joint naval maneuvers, Youm7 reported.
Dubbed as “Friendship Bridge 2015″, the maneuvers are scheduled to take place in the Egyptian territorial waters from 6 to 14 June.
“The goal of the exercise is to strengthen and develop military cooperation between Egypt’s navy and Russia’s navy in the interests of security and stability on the sea,” said Russian defense ministry in a Saturday statement reported by AP.
A joint press conference, headed by Egyptian and Russian officials, was held Saturday to announce the maneuvers, which include joint offensive and defensive fights, to unify the fighting concepts.
Russian defense ministry said that Russian and Egyptian vessels will work with aerial support to protect shipping lanes from various threats and challenges and conduct live fire tactical training, to safeguard stability, Youm7 reported.
Also, the maneuvers aim at exchanging the training expertise between the participating forces, using the latest naval tactics and modern fighting ways.
The Russian participating warships include the guided missile carrier Moskva and the catamaran missile corvette Samum, ivan bobrov carrier and MB-31 tugboat, according to Youm7.
At the International Forum for technological development held Friday, Russia offered Egypt to share the ERA-GLONASS satellite emergency navigation system, which will enable Egypt establishing its national emergency navigation system to respond to its road traffic accidents, Youm7 reported.
A report published on TASS said that Egypt signed a deal with Russia to purchase 12 Su-30k fighter jets from the Russian Aircraft Company, AirCoat.