Morocco To Receive Four MQ-9B Guardian Drones From USA

The Moroccan Air Force to receive four armed MQ-9B Guardian drone learned GDC citing  Reuters news agency.

According to the agency, the deal, which must first be validated by Congress, has been negotiated for many months between the two governments, the Reuters source could not indicate if it was linked to the normalization of diplomatic relations between Rabat and Tel Aviv.

Morocco will therefore join Algeria and Egypt in the club of armies with armed drones and will become after the United Arab Emirates, the second Arab country to acquire the Reaper.

It should be noted that the US defense department changed the conditions for exporting military drones in 2019 by simplifying the procedures, the cumbersome nature of the latter having favored the emergence of the drone industry in China and Turkey.

Morocco already operates American drones for observation as well as Isreal drones.

The arrival of the Reaper will give great capabilities to Morocco especially as this version can be configured for marine and anti-submarine missions in addition to conventional land missions. The endurance of this aircraft can go up to 40 hours at a maximum altitude of 12,000 meters, well beyond the capabilities of short-range mobile defense systems like the Pantsir.

The drone alone, without weaponry, costs around $ 32 million, which in the case of the Moroccan contract represents an investment of at least $ 170 million altogether.

© 2021, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.