US Boosts Morocco’s Air Combat Training with $399 Million Contract

The U.S. Air Force Department awarded on Tuesday a $399 million contract to Cubic Defense Acquisition, based in San Diego (California), to provide in-depth logistical support for the P5 Air Combat Training System (P5CTS) to the U.S. military and partner countries including Morocco, as part of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

Countries maintaining military cooperation with Washington, such as Morocco, Australia, Egypt, Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, will benefit from this contract, which provides for industrial maintenance services, supply of spare parts, technical assistance, and operational monitoring. All these services will be carried out in San Diego until June 9, 2032, the contract end date.

The FMS program has allocated an initial amount of $2.9 million in its 2025 budget for this project, according to data from the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), based at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, which oversees the project. The P5CTS system, used for advanced training of fighter crews or drones, allows for real-time reproduction of simulated air combat, secure transmission of tactical data, and post-mission analysis.

This activity could be a sign heralding the delivery of MQ-9 Reaper drones to Rabat, although for now, no official information has been published on this matter.