Egypt’s navy celebrated the arrival of the new FREMM multipurpose frigate at Ras El-Teen naval base in Alexandria on Friday a day after it arrived, Egypt’s armed forces spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir announced on his Facebook page.
The Egyptian navy’s new FREMM frigate, which is named Tahya Misr (Long Live Egypt), sailed from DCNS’ shipyard in Brest, France, for Alexandria on 22 July.
Admiral Osama Rabie, the commander of the Egyptian navy, stated during the celebration that the new frigate is considered the first of its kind in the Middle East and one of the most recent and evolved productions in the world.
The new frigate will feature at the inauguration of the new Suez Canal on August 6, according to Admiral Rabie.
The celebration was attended by the Egyptian defence minister Colonel General Sedky Sobhi, Egypt’s Chief of staff Lt. General Mahmoud Hegazy, the French Military attaché in Cairo, as well as the Governor of Alexandria.
The multipurpose frigate weighs almost 2,000 tonnes and is 142 metres in length.
In February, Egypt and France signed a deal for Cairo to purchase 24 French Rafale jet fighters, the naval frigate and related military equipment. The deal is worth more than 5 billion euros ($5.70 billion) in total.
When Egypt signed the contract they became the first export customer for the warplanes, built by Dassault Aviation.
On July 20, Egypt officially received the first three Rafale fighters from France in a ceremony at a French military base.
Source: Ahram Online
