To enhance maritime security in the Mediterranean and Red seas, Egyptian Navy ships trained with French partners at combined naval exercise Cleopatra 2025.
The December 2025 exercise was held near the southern French port city of Toulon, although Cleopatra has alternated between locations in Egypt and France since 2014.
Cleopatra 2025 covered naval drills, including gunnery, sailing in formation, fast-roping onto ship decks, resupply missions, and visit, board, search and seizure operations.
The drills involved French Mistral-class helicopter carriers, Egyptian Gowind-class corvettes, frigates and F-16 fighter jets.
Observing the events were Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Adel Fawzi, commander of the Egyptian Navy, and Adm. Christophe Lucas, commander of the French Fleet in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
Egypt and France maintain a robust military-to-military relationship. Besides joint exercises, the two militaries share modernization plans and strategies.
Egypt signed a $4.5 billion contract with France to buy 30 additional Rafale F4.1 fighter jets. The first two of these jets accompanied French President Emmanuel Macron’s aircraft during a visit to Egypt in October 2025.
“We arrived in Egypt with great pride, accompanied by Egyptian Rafale fighter jets, a clear indication of our strategic cooperation,” Macron wrote at the time.
The agreement complements the initial order placed in 2015 for 24 aircraft, making Egypt the second-largest operator of Rafale aircraft after the French Air Force.
To cement the two countries’ cooperation and to enhance Egypt’s defense self-sufficiency, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and French President Macron signed a joint statement in July 2025 that established a strategic military partnership between Egypt and France.
Sources: Egyptian Ministry of Defense, Aljazeera.net, Asharq Al-Awsat