France sends Rafale jets to Egypt

Cairo: Egypt received three more Rafale fighter jets from France on Thursday, the second batch of a deal signed in February 2015, said an Egyptian military spokesman.

"The deal includes handing Egypt 24 Rafale warplanes and a FREMM multi-mission frigate," Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said in a statement.

In June 2015, Egypt received the FREMM frigate from France, and later in July it got three Rafale fighter jets as the first batch of the deal, which is seen by military experts as a real development in capabilities of the Egyptian armed forces.

"The new fighter jets represent a massive addition to the fleet of the Egyptian air forces," the military spokesman boasted.

Egypt seeks to develop its military capabilities amid the ongoing turmoil in Middle East and growing conflicts in fellow Arab states including Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and South Sudan.

The deal signed between Egypt and France in mid-February is worth $5.6 billion.

Later in October, the two countries signed another contract to buy two French Mistral warships, whose sale to Russia was cancelled by France over the Ukrainian crisis.