Morocco Shifts Satellite Program to Israeli Firm, Bypassing French Manufacturers

The two new Moroccan observation satellites will be produced by the Israeli company IAI, led by Amir Peretz, a former Defense Minister and native of Bejaâd, Morocco. The kingdom has chosen the Israeli manufacturer due to its technical offer, which would be the best, but also and above all for national security reasons (tensions with Algeria and monitoring of the Polisario in the Sahara), reports La Razón.

"This choice, which may be surprising due to its distance from the historical French partner, is also explained by the recent rapprochement between Morocco and Israel, of which the IAI company has been one of the main beneficiaries, through the signing of a cooperation agreement consisting in particular of the construction of a center of excellence at the University of Rabat for the training of Moroccan experts," explains Mathieu Luinaud, professor of economics at Sciences Po Paris and expert in the space sector.

In an op-ed published in the French newspaper L’Opinion, the expert notes that the renewal of the Mohammed VI A and B satellites by Morocco comes "in a context of diplomatic tensions between France and Morocco," stressing that Rabat has rejected the offer from the Airbus-Thales Alenia Space group and would even have refused to receive representatives from the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), under the French Ministry of Defense.

The Opt