Morocco Builds New Air Defense Base Near Rabat, Satellite Images Reveal

The satellite images taken via Google Earth were provided to Defense News by a source who requested anonymity, refusing to reveal the exact coordinates of the base for national security reasons. "The facility is certainly an air defense base," said Jeffrey Lewis, a researcher at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, after receiving the coordinates of the images updated on January 2.

Read: Morocco and Israel Plan Joint Military Base Near Spanish Enclave, Reports Say

"Construction of the base began in 2017, with the purchase of 24 medium-range surface-to-air missiles Sky Dragon 50" from China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO), and appears to have been completed around August 2020, Lewis said, noting that an image of this equipment, posted on social media, "had been taken at that location." The Sidi Yahia el-Gharb base covers "about 40 hectares in the middle of the major Moroccan cities," says Abdel Hamid Harfi, another researcher, adding that the base would house a maintenance center, military housing and other administrative buildings.

Read: article 33379

According to Mohammad Shkeir, a Morocco-based military and security expert, "this base will operate air defense systems acquired from China, American Patriot missile systems, as well as Israeli defense systems, based on the recent military agreements signed." According to Lewis, the largest hangars on the base could accommodate surface-to-air missile systems like the FD-2000. "If Morocco has acquired FD-2000B SAMs from China, as reported by Defense, that’s likely where they would be based," he stressed.