Posted on 07/17/2017 8:57:41 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
During the joint French-Egyptian naval exercises "Cleopatra 2017" held from 8 to 11 July 2017, a video released by the Egyptian MoD shows the Anwar El-Sadat (Mistral-class) LHD with four US-made AN/TWQ-1 Avenger on the flight deck acting as point short-range air defence systems.
Cleopatra 2017 Mistral LHD AN TWQ 1 AvengerBoeing AN/TWQ-1 Avenger (fitted with Raytheon FIM-92 Stinger missiles) on the flight deck of the Mistral-class LHD Anwar El-Sadat (L 1020) during the joint French-Egyptian naval exercise "Cleopatra 2017". Picture: Ministry of Defense of Egypt
The Avenger AN/TWQ-1 Air Defense System vehicle is a missile mounted system which provides mobile, short-range air defense protection for ground units against cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, low-flying fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters. In the early 1980s, the then Defence Systems Division of the Boeing Aerospace Company (now The Boeing Company) developed the Avenger air defence system as a private venture. Learn more on the AN/TWQ-1 Air Defense System at ArmyRecognition.com .
The Cleopatra 2017 exercise took place in the waters of the Red and Mediterranean seas. It involved the French Navy LHD Mistral and Lafayette-class Frigate Courbet (returning to France from the annual training mission "Jeanne d'Arc" which took them to the Indian and Pacific Oceans). Egyptian navy units included the LHD Anwar El-Sadat, as well as seven other warships (including some of the latest units such as the FREMM Frigate Tahya Misr and one of the Ambassador MkIII class missile craft).
Cleopatra 2017 Mistral LHDThe French Navy LHD Mistral and the Egyptian Navy LHD Anwar El-Sadat. Picture: French Navy
According to the French Navy, the exercise started with a session of tactical evolutions, then the detachment of marines embarked aboard the Mistral was used to carry out a VBSS exercise on the ENS Sadat, which carried out in return the same visit operation on the Courbet.
Anti-surface, anti-air, and live firing exercises were conducted as well as helicopter maneuvers between the vessels.
On 11 July, after crossing the Suez Canal, Cleopatra concluded with an amphibious exercise. The on-board detachment of marine rifles and the amphibious fleet trained on the beach of OUMEID located about 40 nautical miles west of Alexandria. EDA-R (L-CAT) landing catamarans from both navies were used.
On the same day, Admiral Christophe Prazuck, Chief of Staff of the French Navy, and Egyptian Navy Chief of Staff, Vice-Admiral Ahmed Khaled Hassan, were welcomed aboard the Egyptian LHD Nasser.
Those jury rigged tie-downs don’t look seaworthy to me... Hope they have a couple rolls of duct tape handy in case they run into rough weather.
I guess we need Pappy back.
We use them on our LHDs, except we put them on the elevators.
Much better than tacked to the deck. Bet you still have some duct tape handy just in case :)
Well, I guess the Egyptian Navy doesn’t worry a lot about rough weather given their location on the Mediterranean and Red Seas.
The Israelis seem to have a similar approach to seaworthiness: their Saar 4.5 and 5 corvettes carry lot more weaponry than their counterparts elsewhere.
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