The first bilateral exercise for thirty years between Egypt and the UK has successfully come to its conclusion. Exercise AMHOSE 1 saw the participation of 165 UK military personnel from Cyprus based 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment "The Poachers", in a joint exercise with members of the Egyptian 112 Infantry Brigade.

Discussion between an Egyptian officer and a mortar team of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment "The Poachers" (Picture source: British MoD)

The Exercise began on 5 March at the Mohamed Naguib Military Base in Alexandria. Egypt and the UK shared core military expertise and built their defensive resilience and capacity. The exercise included realistic scenarios in which troops developed essential skills across a range of areas from marksmanship to contact drills, first aid, and counter-IED training. "The UK’s commitment to Egypt’s security and stability is resolute. This training exercise underlines this commitment and paves the way for increased future cooperation”, Geoffrey Adams, British ambassador to Egypt said.

Last year, the British and Egyptian Ministries of Defence signed the first Memorandum of Understanding to conduct joint military exercises as part of efforts to strengthen their counter-terrorism cooperation. The UK has also joined forces with Egypt, the United States and a number of other countries in Exercise BRIGHTSTAR.

Counter-IED exercise (Picture source: British MoD)