Egypt has received the delivery of three Rafale fighter jets from France on 20 July, according to a statement released by the Armed Forces.

The jets are part of a larger deal between Cairo and Paris. A $5.6bn deal signed in the first quarter of this year is comprised of 24 warplanes and contracts for missiles and a multi-mission naval ship from French group Direction des Constructions Navales (DCNS).

Cairo has been hoping to boost its military capacity as the army continues to face instability near the Libyan borders while fighting Isis-affiliated groups in the Sinai Peninsula.

In May, MEED reported that French President Francois Hollande and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani signed a $7bn contract for the sale of 24 Rafale fighter jets.

The contract is the third foreign order for Rafale jets in 2015 and includes MBDA missiles, the training of 36 Qatari pilots, 100 technicians and an undisclosed number of intelligence officers.

Rafale jets are built by France’s Dassault Aviation, who struggled to sell the planes overseas before 2015.