Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence and Military Production, General Abdel Meguid Saqr, attended on Wednesday the main phase of the joint military exercise “Medusa-14”.
Armed Forces’ Chief of Staff. Lieutenant General Ahmed Khalifa, attended the event, together with General Dimitrios Choupis, chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff; Lieutenant General Emmanouil Theodorou, commander of the Cypriot National Guard; Rear Admiral Mansour bin Saud Al-Juaid, Commander of the Royal Saudi Navy’s Western Fleet.
Attendees also included commanders of Egypt’s main service branches; and several senior Egyptian and partner-nation officers as well as military attachés, media representatives, and students from military academies and institutes.
The exercise was held over several days within the operational areas of the Mediterranean, Mohamed Naguib Military Base, and a number of air bases across Egypt. It involved naval, air force and special forces units from Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, and France.
The phase began with a presentation of activities carried out during earlier stages of the exercise.
Participating forces conducted visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) operations on a suspected vessel, search-and-rescue missions, and surface-threat defence, including surface artillery firing with various calibres.
The phase also included an assault on a hostile beach executed by special forces via naval landing and parachute insertion, as well as air strikes on designated coastal targets using multirole aircraft.
The activities concluded with naval units carrying out various sailing formations, followed by a symbolic Friendship Parachute Jump by paratroopers carrying the flags of the participating countries.
The exercises were conducted with high efficiency despite adverse weather conditions, reflecting the readiness and professionalism of the participating forces.
At the end of the phase, General Abdel Meguid Saqr conveyed the greetings and appreciation of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, welcoming attendees to “their second home, Egypt”.
He also emphasized that “Medusa” is one of the top joint drills conducted by the Egyptian Armed Forces with allied and friendly nations, with the aim of exchanging expertise and learning the latest combat tactics among the participating countries.
Commanders of the participating countries lauded the outstanding performance demonstrated by the forces during the execution of various combat tasks, and their ability to carry out joint operations with precision and professionalism.
