The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) will participate in the Anatolian Eagle 2011 military training exercise, scheduled to commence next month in the central Anatolian province of Konya, Turkey.

The RSAF will be participating alongside Jordan, Pakistan, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the US and Turkey in the exercise to be held from 13 to 24 June 2011, according to Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Jazirah.

The paper quoted Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khaled Bin Sultan as saying, “These kinds of exercises to be carried out with Arab, Muslim and friendly countries will bring in a significant contribution to the air forces in regards to gaining combative capabilities.”

The Anatolian Eagle exercise, which is a joint international military exercise, was changed by Turkish military into a national military exercise in 2009 in a move to exclude Israel from participating.

A delay in the delivery of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Turkey from Israel has been linked to the exclusion.

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