Exercise Qader 2021

On 3 July 2021, exercise تمرين قادر 21 (Qader 2021) started in north-western Egypt. This exercise, one of the largest strategic manoeuvres saw all Egyptian military branches participating in an integrated land, air and naval exercise.

The purpose of this exercise is to test the performance and combat readiness of the participating units of various origins and the integration of all eastern and western systems to deal smoothly and in full coordination against all air, land and sea hostilities.

The main scenario was the seizure of an occupied port from terrorist elements backed by fighter aircraft, attack and support helicopters, frigates and submarines. To achieve this, a total of 39 missions was defined, divided over the participating forces with ten missions for the Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya (EAF, Egyptian Air Force), twelve for the Navy, eight for the air defence units, seven for the Special Forces and two for the Army.

The EAF participated with no less than 137 aircraft and helicopters, whilst the Navy brought 75 warships to the exercise. It was not reported which units participated.

The air force concentrated on the following missions:

F-16C/D Fighting Falcons for forward reconnaissance
Dassault Rafale for air superiority
MiG-29 for air cover
Mirage 2000, F-16 and MiG-29 for air strike
Mirage 2000 for protecting high-value assets
C295M, Westland Commando, Chinook and Mi-17 for airdrop
Kamov Ka-52, AH-64D Apache and Mi-24 for Close Air Support (CAS) and escorting the airdrop missions
Unmanned Camcopter S-100 for assessing strike missions
C-130H Compass Call and E-2C Hawkeye for electronic support and Airborne Early Warning (AEW)
Westland Commando for hostage rescue

The Egyptian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has made a seven minute promotional video of the exercise giving an overview on the participating units and their missions.

For more information on the Air Order of Battle of the Egyptian Armed Forces have a look at our website.