Morocco’s Israeli Drone Acquisition Sparks Tensions with Algeria

A report has been transmitted to the Chief of the People’s National Army (ANP), General Saïd Chengriha, on the rearmament of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) by Israel, reports Maghreb Intelligence. According to the report, the Moroccan army has acquired three types of drones of Israeli manufacture, Hermes 900, intended to be used to counter possible attacks along the defense wall in the Sahara. These tactical drones can fly for up to 36 hours on reconnaissance, surveillance and communications missions. Since 2014, the Moroccan Air Force has had three copies of the Israeli Heron drone, delivered in the unarmed French version Harfang and deployed along the South-East borders to counter the incursions of terrorist groups and armed elements of the Polisario.

These drones, combined with the Turkish Bayraktar TB-2s, will allow the Moroccan army to annihilate the Algerian air defense, summarizes the report. Based on the conclusions of the last war between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the bombings carried out in Syria against the Syrian army and Iranian militias, the authors of the report reveal the inability of the S-300PMU2, Pantsir S-/Pantsir S-2/Pantsir SM air defense systems to cope with the new Moroccan capabilities. "The TB-2s, armed drones produced by Baykar, thus allowed the Azerbaijani forces, advised and equipped by the Turkish ally, to paralyze part of the Armenian air defense, artillery and armored vehicles," reported Le Figaro.

Morocco has recently received US approval to equip its 24 new "AH-64 Apache" helicopters it had ordered from the American manufacturer Boeing. The Moroccan army has already signed a contract with the Israeli company Rafael to equip them with Spike LR II and Spike NLOS smart missiles. These are 4th generation anti-tank guided missiles with a range of 600 meters to 25 kilometers. This is enough to further worry the neighboring country.