General Mohamed Zaki, Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces and Minister of Defense and Military Production witnessed the final stage of the joint Egyptian-U.S. training ‘Bright Star 2023’, with the participation of troops from 19 countries, including: Egypt, the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the Comoros, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Malawi, Cameroon, Pakistan, and India.

The Egyptian Civil Police and the International Committee of the Red Cross also participated in the exercise, as well as 15 countries as observers, namely: Bahrain, the Emirates, Sudan, Tunisia, Oman, Hungary, Poland, Nigeria, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Japan, Brazil, and Australia, the Egyptian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

For his part, Lieutenant General Osama Askar, Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces also witnessed the final stage of ‘Bright Star 2023’, as well as Commanders of the main branches, General Michael Corella, Commander of the U.S. Central Command, a number of Commanders of the Egyptian Armed Forces and participating countries, Military Attachés, Cadets from Military Colleges and Institutes, and the Media.

The final phase of the training included the implementation of a tactical live ammunition shooting exercise for the various weapons and forces participating in the training, where multi-role aircraft and armed anti-tank helicopters engaged and destroyed the enemy targets, artillery shelling was carried out on planned targets.

Moreover, forward mechanical and armored vehicles of the participating forces were pushed, supported by anti-tank guided missile elements and Air Defense means and weapons, to complete the attack and destroy all planned enemy targets. The events concluded with an air show by the Egyptian Air Force aerobatic display team (Silver Stars) welcoming the countries participating in the training.

At the end of the stage, General Mohamed Zaki, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense and Military Production, conveyed the greetings of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, welcoming the participation of many brotherly and friendly countries in ‘Bright Star 2023’.

He further stressed the importance of the exercise in developing interoperability between the participating countries to exchange experiences and modern combat tactics towards strengthening the military cooperation and supporting security and stability efforts in the region. (Source & Photo © Egyptian Ministry of Defense)