The Royal Hashemite Court has released a statement about ‘Salah al-Din Fortress’ tactical exercise with the attached image of recently received Leclerc tanks.
His Majesty King Abdullah, the Supreme Commander of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF), accompanied by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, attended a tactical exercise on Monday, conducted by the Eastern Military Region.
Upon arrival at the location of the exercise, attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Salma bint Abdullah II, King Abdullah was received by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maj. Gen. Yousef Hneiti, the region’s commander, and a number of senior JAF officers.
His Majesty was briefed on the Eastern Military Region’s operational and tactical duties, as well as the various stages of the exercise, which included defensive battle drills aimed at developing personnel’s leadership, planning, and coordination skills to bolster combat capabilities.
“For the first time, the Leclerc (Zayed) tanks were used, which entered service this year as a fruit of the fraternal and strategic relations linking Jordan and the United Arab Emirates,” also added in a statement.
The statement has confirmed that the Jordanian Armed Forces has received a batch of French-made Leclerc main battle tanks (MBTs) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Earlier it was reported that the UAE will transfer about 80 Leclerc tanks to Jordan.
According to the Army Recognition, in 1993, the UAE has signed a contract with the French Company Giat Industries (now Nexter Systems) for the purchase of 436 combat vehicles, including 388 Leclerc MBTs, two driver training tanks, and 48 armored recovery tanks based on the Leclerc MBT chassis.