Egypt and Russia will start joint military drills "Protectors of Friendship 2016" involving airborne troops from both countries in the Egyptian Hamam city in the North Coast of Alamein area for the first time within days.

The joint Russian-Egyptian drills are expected to be launched Saturday and run till 26.

The drills, called "Protectors of Friendship-2016", will include airborne troops, planes and helicopters and military hardware units.

"The airborne delivery by parachute of several Russian airborne troops' сombat vehicles to the desert climate of Egypt will occur for the first time in history," according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The General Command of the Egyptian and Russian Armed Forces have been keen on planning for the joint drills and targets of the training so as to achieve a maximum benefit from the join exercises in the operation outline and management with the use of the state-of-the-art training systems.

Units from the Egyptian airborne parachute troops arrived to the joint training areas in the Northern Military Zone to carry out training missions with the use of various types of planes ahead of the training with their Russian counterparts. 

Last year Russia and Egypt held their first-ever joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean, which included the Black Sea fleet's flagship Moskva missile cruiser.

Egypt has recently joined more than 30 annual military training with more tan 20 countries with the aim of honing the military skills and combat expertise.

Source: MENA