One of the Egyptian Rafales deployed to an undisclosed location in the UAE. (UAE Ministry of Defence)
Egypt has deployed Dassault Rafale multirole fighters to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UAE Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed on 7 May 2026.
It announced that Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had “conducted an inspection visit to the Egyptian fighter detachment stationed in the [UAE]”.
The photographs that accompanied the statement showed the presidents meeting Egyptian Air Force personnel who included 13 men in flight suits inside a large hangar where at least one single-seat Rafale with Egyptian markings was displayed.
The Egyptian coverage of Sisi’s brief visit did not mention the deployment but the official statement stressed that Cairo supports the stability and security of the UAE and rejects Iran’s recent attacks on the emirates as violations of international law.
The Egyptian presidency released a similar statement after Sisi visited Oman later on the same day, but did not explicitly mention the attacks Iran has carried out against the sultanate.
Egypt was the largest export customer for the Rafale after ordering 24 in 2015 and another 30 in 2021. A UAE order for 80 Rafales was announced later in 2021, with the first handed over in France in January 2025.
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