Morocco F-35s deal could agitate neighbours

If all the speculation in early February is to be believed, Morocco could soon become the first Arab and African nation to acquire the Lockheed Martin F-35. Alan Warnes reports.

IMAGE: Alan Warnes

Could Morocco be the first Arab and African nation to acquire the F-35A? This would certainly cause Algeria a few headaches. IMAGE: Alan Warnes

The deal for 32 aircraft has been given the go ahead by Israel, which has a big say on Arab nations buying the advanced fighter, is estimated to be around $17 billion over 45 years that would include procurement and maintenance costs.

Sources at IDEX in February indicated that the return of president Donald Trump for a second term, could see the unfinished F-35 business that he started during his first four years in office finally given the green light.

Lockheed Martin representatives at IDEX allegedly provided an in-depth briefing to a Moroccan military delegation on the fifth-generation jet’s capabilities.

From Morocco’s perspective it would provide a huge leap in capability. In August 2020, the RMAF’s purchase of 24 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D block 72s (20 F-16Cs, four F-16Ds) equipped with Pratt & Whitney F100-229 engines, was cleared by the US government, with deliveries expected to take place this year.

The surviving 23 F-16s are being upgraded to the more advanced F-16V, equipped with the Northrop Grumman APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-33 sniper pod, Terma AN/ALQ-213 EW management systems and L3Harris AN/ALQ-211 advanced integrated defensive electronic warfare system (AIDEWS).

Morocco’s two new ISR Gulfstream 550s being integrated by L3 Systems, with Israeli Elta systems, at its Greenville, Texas facility and along with new Israeli spy satellites, will ensure a keen eye can be kept on its neighbours and geopolitical rivals Algeria.

It must be alarmed at the build up the Royal Moroccan Air Force’s combat edge, that threatens to eclipse its own capabilities. This is a major reason why Algeria is set to become the first export customer of Russia’s fifth-gen Sukhoi Su-57, although unlike Morocco it doesn’t integrate all its war fighting assets to anything close to the way that its neighbour does.

The F-35/F-16 integration will certainly be helped with so many other allied air forces in NATO going down the same training route well before Morocco would receive their fifth gen fighters in around 2035.

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