The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defence revealed yesterday the presence on Emirati soil of a contingent of RAFALE F3R fighters from the Egyptian Air Force, tasked with assisting the UAE in defensive operations against Iranian drones and missiles.

This marks the first official acknowledgement of an Egyptian air deployment in the country. The announcement coincided with a visit to Abu Dhabi by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The exact number of aircraft and the hosting base have not been disclosed. In the images released by the Emirati MoD, 13 pilots are visible in formation, and at least one of the RAFALEs shown (DM 21) belongs to the latest contract, signed in 2021, and was delivered last year.

It is a noteworthy development, not least because Cairo and Abu Dhabi sit on opposite sides of several regional dossiers (Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Horn of Africa), even as they maintain solid economic ties — with the UAE standing as Egypt's largest foreign investor.

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