A small country, without drumbeats for the purchase of new aircraft, including the F-16 Block 72, is turning into an F-16, C-130 maintenance hub.
In a bid to become a military aircraft maintenance hub for neighboring African countries, Morocco has signed a strategic partnership with Belgian companies Sabca and Sabena Aerospace, along with US giant Lockheed Martin, to maintain and support the F-16 and C-130 Hercules aircraft.
The Moroccan Air Force already has 23 F-16 fighter jets, which it expects to upgrade to Block 72s at the facility. These are complemented by a fleet of locally upgraded F5 fighters, used specifically for ground force fire support operations, as well as Mirage F-1 and ALPHA-JET aircraft maintained within the Meknes military base. Morocco also has a fleet of 17 C-130H transports and has sought to increase this fleet through the Excess Defense Articles program.
As previously reported by Pentapostagma, Morocco put "glasses" on us, turning into an F-16 and C-130 maintenance hub.
In a new development American media reported that US President Joe Biden has instructed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to prepare a contingency plan for the establishment of an American military industrial base in the Kingdom of Morocco. The plan was proposed during a high-level meeting in late December, when Biden and Austin discussed America's new global military strategy.
Biden asked Austin to press the Pentagon to ease the logistical and legal aspects of US defense industry investments in Morocco. He envisions strengthening Rabat's pioneering role in the fight against terrorism and integrating it into the international military equation by developing its military technical capabilities.
According to media sources in the United States, before his meeting with Austin, Biden received a detailed report from CIA Director William Burns on the expansion of Russia's influence in Africa, including Zimbabwe, Sudan, of the Central African Republic, Algeria and the Sahel and the Sahara.
Morocco has many security concerns, including neighboring Algeria with advanced air force fleets, which the Kingdom accuses of arming the Polisario Front rebel group in Western Sahara.
The CIA report said that Russia not only strongly supports the Algerian regime militarily and politically, but is also discussing the creation of a large logistical base that would give it significant access to countries south of the Sahara desert. "This will threaten the interests of Washington and its allies there," the report said.
Cooperation in the field of air defense and electronic warfare
On January 16 and 17, 2023, the first meeting of the Morocco-Israel Defense Cooperation Monitoring Committee was held in Rabat.
Co-chairs were the Commander of the Armed Forces and Inspector General of the Armed Forces of Morocco and Dror Shalom, Director of the Office of Civil and Military Affairs at the Israeli Ministry of Defense. In this meeting they discussed various areas of bilateral military cooperation, especially logistics and training as well as procurement and modernization of equipment.
While the two officials welcomed the level of bilateral military cooperation, they agreed to further strengthen this cooperation and expand it to other areas, including intelligence, air defense and electronic warfare. The commander of the southern region described the Moroccan-Israeli military cooperation as "bearing common interests and based on mutual trust and support."
Morocco is deploying the Israeli Barak MX system
Morocco has received and put into service the first Barak MX anti-missile systems capable of shooting down any aircraft or missile at a range of 150 kilometers. The system is manufactured by the Israeli company IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries).
Morocco has invested up to $500 million, currently, in this new anti-missile system capable of shooting down any enemy aircraft or missile at distances of up to 150 kilometers.
It is a highly mobile system that allows the operator to defend a specific area from threats from the air. It can also be deployed on ships, as the Indian Navy has done with the Barak MX. It also comes with radars capable of detecting targets at distances of up to 470 kilometers.
Although the systems were received recently, the purchase took place in February 2022, under the Strategic Defense Cooperation Agreement signed in 2021 between Tel Aviv and Rabat.
A historic deal for both parties that allows Morocco to access high-tech Israeli-made weapons. Thanks to this strategic agreement, Morocco gained access to technology such as the "Heron" and "Hermes 900" or "Harrop" drones.
