US Approves Sale of Advanced MQ-9B Drones to Morocco in Landmark Deal

27 March 2021 – bySylvanus@Bladi · 1 min read

U.S. President Joe Biden intends to maintain his predecessor’s policy on exports of armed drones to more foreign countries, confirming the sale of four drones to Morocco. The kingdom had negotiated this acquisition as part of the normalization of its relations with Israel.

The sale of four sophisticated MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones to Morocco negotiated under the Trump administration as part of the Abraham Accords concluded last December will be maintained, reports Reuters. A source close to the case said the Biden administration will not backtrack. The continuation of this policy will have a positive impact. This decision will bring hundreds of millions and possibly billions of dollars in U.S. sales to the governments of Taiwan, India, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates who in the past were not allowed to buy them, the British news agency points out.

Morocco can therefore expect to receive its order of four latest generation MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones manufactured by the American company General Atomics. The Trump administration had transmitted, on December 11, 2020, a notice to Congress regarding the sale of armed drones and precision-guided weapons to the kingdom for an amount of one billion dollars. These drones have a range of more than 11,000 kilometers, which would allow them to cover large expanses of sea or desert.

Category: Economy

Keywords:

United States Exports Defense - Armament Acquisition Normalization Morocco Israel