MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The final stage of the Russian-Egyptian paratrooper exercise, Defenders of Friendship 2021, took place near Cairo on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"Once the paratroopers landed and assembled in the drop zone, they seized and regained control of a border village with terrorists inside, set free the hostages, and gave assistance to the local population," the ministry said.
The active stage of the exercise involved about 200 servicemen from both countries. They were airdropped on guided wing-shaped parachutes over the desert from altitudes ranging from 600 to 3,500 meters, it said.
Four Ilyushin Il-76MS military transport planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which transported personnel of the Russian-Egyptian combined unit, airdropped the paratroopers and six BMD-2K-AU vehicles on PBS-916 parachutes. Boeing C-130 Hercules, C-295 Casa, Chinook and Mil Mi-17 of the Egyptian Air Force also took part in the operation, the ministry said.
The active stage of the exercise was held at the Wadi Sakran range of the Egyptian Armed Forces in the area of Inshas, 60 kilometers from Cairo.
The combined unit command "confirmed the fulfillment of all missions and the absence of unforeseen incidents, circumstances or breakdowns of weapons and military and special hardware," the ministry said.
Russian Airborne Forces Commander Andrei Serdyukov thanked the servicemen for the successful mission and professionalism. His Egyptian colleague Atyf Ibrahim Mady "lauded the cohesion of the joint unit and the professionalism of forces and underlined the need for further coordination and exchange of practices in order to deter modern challenges, first and foremost terrorism," the ministry said.
Military attaches from a number of African countries and Russian Ambassador to Egypt Georgy Borisenko attended the exercise.
The Defenders of Friendship 2021 Russian-Egyptian exercise is taking place at an Egyptian paratrooper base on October 17-29. It involves over 500 paratroopers from both countries, as well as Ilyushin Il-76MD planes of the Russian Airborne Forces, Boeing C-130 Hercules and C-295 Casa, Chinook and Mil MI-17 of the Egyptian Air Force, and Hummer and TGL army jeeps.
This is the fifth Defenders of Friendship tactical exercise held by Russian and Egyptian forces.