Units from the Egyptian Air Force and special forces, ‘Thunderbolt’ have arrived in Sudan’s Marwa air base, to conduct a joint air exercise, dubbed 'The Nile Eagles 1' with the Sudanese Air Force.

According to an official statement on Saturday, Egyptian armed forces spokesman Tamer El-Refaie said the exercise, which runs until 26 November, is being conducted between the two neighbouring countries for the first time.

The joint exercise is set to include planning and managing joint combat activities that are to be carried out by both the Egyptian and Sudanese air forces.

As well as, multi-tasking fighter aircrafts from both sides that will execute offensive and defensive sortie on targets, stated El-Refaie.

He added that the countries’ special forces will carry out combat search and rescue activities too.

The joint exercise began with theoretical and practical lectures to unify the required concepts and exchange expertise between the two sides, the spokesman said.

This training is part of efforts to support military cooperation between the armed forces of both countries and enhance the joint capability to manage airborne activities, using various air force weapons, he added.

The training with Sudan comes under a series of joint trainings between the Egyptian armed forces and their counterparts.