Egypt is expected to receive two German submarines and a French global combat ship as part of comprehensive armament plans for the armed forces, the Commander of the Naval Forces Osama Rabie said on Wednesday. The announcement came during the graduation ceremony of the 66th class of the maritime college. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and other state officials attended the ceremony. Egypt had signed a deal with Berlin to buy two German-made submarines in 2011, then ordered two more in 2014. The navy commander did not specify the time frame in which Egypt is expected to receive the submarines or the ship. "The navy will witness a new qualitative shift and will receive the arms and weapons from a variety of sources, from both eastern and western states," Rabie said. The navy commander also revealed that Egypt would be receiving a new French warship, the FREMM naval frigate, as part of a one-billion-euro deal signed in 2014 to purschase four warships. Rabie also said that the Egyptian-French deal would include joint manufacturing between the two countries of three other warships in the Egyptian shipbuilding arsenal. On 20 July, Egypt officially received three Dassault Aviation-built Rafale fighters from France in a ceremony at a French military base, the first batch of 24 warplanes acquired by Cairo in a 5.2 billion euro ($5.6 billion) deal which was signed in February, 2015. Paris's military cooperation with Egypt comes as a "first step" in creating a "unique relationship" between the two states in acknowledgement of Egypt's central role in ensuring security in the region, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves le Drian said in June. Source: Ahram Online
