Tuesday was Navy Day and to mark the occasion the Egyptian navy conducted extensive exercises involving frigates, missile boats, frogmen and naval commandos. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, attended the exercises alongside Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi, senior military commanders and cabinet ministers. Al-Sisi inaugurated new facilities at the expanded Ras Al-Tin naval base and toured recently modernised areas of the navy's headquarters. The family of late admiral Fouad Zikri, who served during the War of Attrition (1968-1970), had been invited to the celebration. Zikri's widow joined Al-Sisi, senior naval and army officers for breakfast. Al-Sisi was briefed about the exercises on board the frigate Taba. The code name Zat Esawari refers to the victory in 655 of the Caliphate over the Byzantine navy. The annual exercise has been carried for years to celebrate the Navy Day with the same code name Zat Esawari. The Navy Day marks the 21 October, 1967 sinking of the Israeli destroyer Eilat some 12 miles from Port Said. Eilat was sunk by two surface-to-surface Styx missiles launched by Egyptian missile boats some four months after Egypt's defeat in the 1967 war. The naval exercise are part of exercise Badr 2014, the Egyptian military's most ambitious ever training exercise. The exercises included mine sweeping, combatting piracy on the high seas, securing commercial shipping, intercepting suspicious vessels, tracking smugglers and, perhaps the most difficult, a simulated exercise that involved detecting and destroying enemy submarines. A helicopter took off from a frigate to locate the submarine with sonar devices. The enemy boat was then destroyed with torpedoes fired from both the helicopter and a destroyer. A surface to surface missile battle was staged to test the accuracy of missiles. Submarines also launched torpedoes and depth/ surface missiles at an enemy naval unit. In a statement on Sunday Navy commander Admiral Osama Al-Guindi told reporters his troops had been working hard for long to mobilise its abilities to overcome the challenges of the current political phase. “Our waters, coasts and harbours are a red line. Whoever dares to come close with hostile intentions will be received by death,” Al-Guindi said during the press conference held to mark Navy Day. Addressing developments in Yemen and their impact on navigation in the Suez Canal, Al- Guindi said: “We watch the situation and monitor every change. Our units work to secure navigation 24 hours a day.” Earlier this week the armed forces revealed details of the military exercise. “The exercise Badr 2014 is bigger than the one of 1996,” said military spokesman Mohamed Samir, and “involves all branches of the army, navy, air force and air defence units”. Samir explained that the exercises, which started a week ago, will continue for 27 days. “The targets of Badr 2014 are to measure and examine the readiness and capability of the troops. Considering the fact that the Armed Forces is one of the nation's major institutions, we need to examine its strength to protect national targets and interests. We need to prove and show that we are ready and capable to stand against all hostilities,” he added.
