MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/. First joint drills of the Airborne Troops of Russia and Egypt will be held on the African continent in mid-October, the Russian Defense Ministry’s department of information and mass communications said on Saturday.

"During the joint anti-terrorist drills ‘Defenders of Friendship — 2016’ in the Arab Republic of Egypt, both sides plan to involve up to 100 paratroopers," the ministry said.

Russian paratroopers will use the high-end special parachute system "Arbalet" in the desert climate of the African continent for the first time. The Russian Defense Ministry reminded that this parachute system has already been successfully tested beyond the Polar circle, on the North Pole and on a drifting ice floe in the Arctic Ocean.

Egyptian paratroopers will use MS-5 systems with similar characteristics.