The Egyptian and French naval forces conducted two joint passing drills in the Southern Fleet zone in the Red Sea.

The exercises come as part of the General Command of the Armed Forces' plan to upgrade the level of training and exchange expertise with the Armed Forces of the friendly countries.

Taking part in the naval drill were the Egyptian corvette Abu Qir along with the French helicopter carrier (MISTRAL) and French frigate Courbet which carried out various professional training activities.

The Egyptian mine hunter (Navarin) and French minesweeper (ORION) took part in the drills via searching for and detecting naval mines, engaging the state-of-the-art weapons and equipment.

Various naval trainings jointly conducted by the Egyptian and French forces recently reflect the great development of the Egyptian naval forces and the great technological leap it witnessed over the past few years which cope up with the key international naval forces.