Morocco requests sale of F-16’s armament, TOW missiles, Paveway II, JDAM from the US

September 13, 2019September 17, 2019 Military Africa Morocco

The Moroccan government has earmarked nearly a billion dollars for the sale of various ammunition and weapons from the United States through the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

The US Congress was notified regarding the request in September 11, with the selected
contractors including Raytheon, Orbital ATK, General Dynamics, Kilgore Cheming Groupe, Cheming Groupe, and Kaman Precision Products.

The various ammunition and weapons requested includes armament for the Royal Moroccan Air Force F-16 Viper fighter jets such as 5,810 MK82-1 bombs (fitted with Tritonal explosive filling); 300 Mk 84-4 bombs (Tritonal filling); 105 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) KMU-572F/B Tail Kits; 180 MXU-651B/B Air Foil Groups (AFG) for GBU-10 Paveway II guided bombs; 4 125 MXU-650C/B AFGs for GBU-12 Paveway II guided bombs; 4 305 MAU-169L/B Computer Control Groups (CCG) for GBU-10,-12,-16 weapons; and 5 178 FMU-152 fuzes.

Others are flares and impulse cartridges (to eject the flares), bomb sensors, chaff, bomb components, spares and support equipment. The DSCA disclosed to Congress that the proposed sale of F-16 armament would “improve Morocco’s capability to meet current and future threats of terror from violent extremist organizations prevalent throughout the region. Additionally, the additional munitions provided by this sale will improve interoperability with the United States and other regional allies and enhance Morocco’s ability to undertake coalition operations, as it has done in the past in flying sorties against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.”

Recently, the Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) requested to procure more F-16s and to upgrade its existing fleet.

For anti-tank operations, Morocco also requested for the sale of 2,401 TOW-2A anti-tank missiles. Also included in the request was 28 TOW 2A Fly-to-Buy missiles for lot acceptance testing; and 400 M220A2 TOW launchers and/or 400 M41 Improved Target Acquisition System (ITAS) Launchers.

Raytheon Missile Systems would supply the missions in a $776 million contract.

Presently, the Royal Moroccan Military has been making headway in its modernisation plans. On August 2019, Morocco requested 24 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters worth $1.5 billion.

Drive that sale period, the North African country also requested for the sale of two United States C-130H Hercules transport.