According to information published by Egypt Today on March 8, 2021, the Egyptian and French naval forces carried out joint drills in the Red Sea, as announced by the spokesperson of the Egyptian Armed Forces.
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Amphibious assault helicopter carrier of the French Navy Tonnerre (Picture source: Wikipedia)
On the Egyptian side, the warships that participated are frigate "Sharm El Sheikh" and corvette "Abou Qir." On the French side, the helicopter carrier "TONNERRE," and frigate "SURCOUF" took part in the exercises after visiting Safaga Port.
The forces trained on heterogeneous marine formations during the evaluation of the situation in an area of operations to determine the way of dealing with various threats. That is in addition to training on protecting a vital target in the sea against all possible threats as well as air defense methods and exchanging helicopter landing between marine vessels.
Tonnerre is the second of three Mistral-class LHD of the French Navy. It was launched in July 2005 and commissioned in December 2006. Designed by Naval Group, Mistral BPC (Bâtiment de Projection et de Commandment) LHD is a multi-mission 21,500t amphibious assault, command and power projection ship. Mistral-class vessels are capable to accommodate and deploy 16 transport or attack helicopters, four landing crafts, up to 70 vehicles or 13 main battle tanks. They have accommodations for 450 to 700 troops.
