CAIRO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian and French naval forces carried out joint military drills across the Red Sea, the Egyptian military said Sunday.

The naval exercises come as part of the joint plan between the Egyptian and French armies to carry out several combat missions using modern naval technologies, said Tamer al-Refai, spokesman of the Egyptian armed force.

Egyptian and French frigates and rocket launchers, along with units of Special Forces from the two armies, participated in the naval drills.

Egypt regularly holds military exercises with Arab, African and Western countries to boost military collaboration and exchange expertise.

A formation of French Rafale jets also arrived at an Egyptian air base for a joint exercise with Egyptian air forces, official MENA news agency reported.

The military exercise involves simulation of several combat scenarios, trainings with different combat methods, as well as the plans to implement a joint air operation to defend vital targets and attack a number of hostile objects.

Military ties between Egypt and France have enhanced recently.

In October 2015, Egypt and France signed a contract worth 1 billion U.S. dollars on the purchase of two French Mistral warships, which were delivered to Egypt in June and September 2016.

Egypt has so far received 11 French-made Rafale fighter jets out of total 24 according to a 2015 contract worth more than 6 billion dollars.