The Moroccan minister in charge of national defense administration, Abdellatif Loudyi, stated Saturday in a report of a parliamentary meeting that Morocco is trying to develop a local military industry, especially with the manufacturing of intelligence and combat drones.

The Moroccan government wants to develop “certain sectors of the military industry, including weapons and ammunition, as well as the manufacture of drones capable of conducting intelligence operations, surveillance and armed attacks, in addition to the maintenance of military aircraft,” said the minister quoted in the minutes of a parliamentary meeting on the draft budget allocated to defense for 2023.

Abdellatif Loudyi, who did not give more information on the nature of these operations, said that a project to build a maintenance factory for military aircraft has been assigned to a specialized international company in the region of Benslimane (north of Casablanca).

The minister affirmed that a law allowing for the granting of licenses for the growth of military industries has already been adopted by the government in order to “strengthen the independence” of the kingdom in this area.

Kamikaze drones

Moroccan and Israeli media reported in November 2021 a $22 million contract -not officially confirmed- between Rabat and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel’s leading public aerospace group, for the delivery of “kamikaze drones.”
The news website Yabiladi.com reported that the military cooperation agreement between Morocco and Israel also includes the “launch of two industrial units to manufacture unmanned aircraft.” It cited a Moroccan security source for this information.
As part of a process of normalization between the Jewish state and several Arab nations, supported by the previous administration of the United States under Donald Trump, Israel and Morocco normalized their relations in December 2020.
The normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries – in return for U.S. recognition of Moroccan “sovereignty” over the disputed territory of Western Sahara – has renewed tensions with Algeria, a supporter of the Palestinian cause.
According to Moroccan military experts, Rabat already employs unmanned aircraft for intelligence gathering and border surveillance. Unofficial reports claim that a Moroccan drone strike killed one of the Polisario Front’s leaders, who was leading the Sahrawi independence movement, in April.

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After many failures confronted by the figureheads of the “Polisario” at the political level regarding the conflict with Morocco over the Sahara, the British newspaper “The Telegraph” said in a field report completed in areas where “Polisario Front” elements are present in the Algerian Sahara, that a state of despair is sweeping the fighters of the front.
As per statements to the Telegraph by a number of the Front’s fighters, the international community “did not do justice to them,” and the Front was unable to achieve anything in the Sahara issue, so the vexing question for the “Polisario” elements on the front lines of the fighting has become, “How will we liberate the desert?” with most of them seeing no choice but to go to war.
In this context, Bashir Mustafa, a 69-year-old Polisario combatant and former Front Command counselor, remarked that “the Polisario must advance to the next stage,” adding that “this time the conflict requires continuity and more strong escalation.”
Other elements of the “Polisario” Front fighters have stated that they have no other options and that the “liberation of the Sahara” will only come through war, despite the fact that they are aware of the difficulty and differences this time from previous wars in the desert between the “Polisario” and the forces.
The deployment of drones by Morocco led the “Polisario” components to adapt their approach in encounters with Moroccan forces, according to the British publication, as they moved randomly in small groups like nomads in the desert.
According to a British publication, one of the ways that Polisario forces dodge the lethal bombing of Moroccan “drones” after leaving the Algerian desert and entering the buffer zone is to travel through the desert at night in Toyota trucks with the lights turned off. Completely, as well as covering the dashboard with rubber stickers so that the “drone” cannot detect them while flying through the sky.
Despite the precautions taken by “Polisario” elements while moving through the buffer zone in order to approach the Moroccan security wall in order to carry out bombing operations against Moroccan forces, the constant anticipation and constant monitoring of the sky for fear of “drones” bombarding them does not stop their constant anticipation and constant monitoring of the sky.
This, as well as the fact that a military commander of the “Polisario,” Mohamed Fadel, spoke to the Spanish newspaper “Publico” and revealed that the current war with Morocco is different from previous conflicts, noting that Morocco now has “drones” that have become the worst nightmares for those suffering from separatist front elements.
According to the same spokesman, he was wounded by Moroccan forces in the 1980s, and he was wounded a second time last April, after he and other Polisario members carried out a targeting operation near the Moroccan security wall, but on the way back to the camps, a Moroccan “drone” caught up with them and launched air missiles.
The same official said that a missile hit near him, gravely wounded him, and that in the same Moroccan strike, separatist commander Dah Al-Bandir, who was a leader of the front’s so-called “Sahrawi gendarmerie” and one of the Polisario’s important leaders, was murdered.
According to the Spanish newspaper “Publico,” the military “drones” that Morocco has acquired have become the Polisario elements’ worst nightmares because they are not seen or heard, appear and disappear quickly, and launch missiles directly, causing the militias to become “Obsessive” and start staring at the sky after any operation they perform.

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In the event that the new administration approves Trump’s policy in this field, it is expected that Morocco will receive the four drones.

Reuters reported yesterday, Thursday, that the administration of US President Joe Biden wants to keep a controversial policy from the era of his predecessor, Donald Trump, which led to the start of the sale of armed drones to countries whose human rights records are subject to scrutiny in the United States and other countries.

The same source indicated that Biden’s retention of the policy of former US President Trump, in the field of arms sales, especially drones, would lead to the approval of many deals which were suspended by the US Congress, with countries such as Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, and India.

The same source added that members of the US Congress had previously suspended the sale of four drones to Morocco, due to objections to the decision to recognize Morocco’ sovereignty over Sahara, a deal that Donald Trump had agreed to last December.

In the event that the new administration approves Trump’s policy in this field, it is expected that Morocco will acquire the four drones.

In the same context, Reuters previously quoted three well-informed American sources as saying that the United States is negotiating the sale of at least four large and advanced MQ-9B drones to Morocco, and that consultations with Congress about the potential deal are expected to take place during the coming days.

The MQ-9B aircraft developed by General Atomics has a range of more than 11,000 km, and can scan large areas of land and sea.

The US National Security Council official said that the decision to continue adopting Trump’s policy “provides the U.S. government the flexibility to review UAS (unmanned aerial systems) export requests”, while continuing to exercise that “national discretion in ways consistent with our MTCR commitments, as well as “our strong commitment to U.S. national security, human rights, nonproliferation, and other foreign policy objectives”.

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Morocco has finally received three Israeli-made reconnaissance drones after purchasing them back in 2014. Announced The Times of Israel.

According to French website Intelligence Online, Morocco has bought the long endurance “Heron” drones for 48 million USD developed by Israel Aerospace Industries.

French military had used the drones for surveillance operations in Afghanistan before they were decommissioned. Morocco’s purchase is part of a cutting-edge move for Morocco’s military arsenal.

The leading-edge technology of the drones allows them a non-stop 52 hours of flight. They can also be rigged up with satellite uplinks, HD camera systems and multiple surveillance gear.

The drones were first deployed in 2005. The Heron technology is adopted by different militaries around the globe. US Navy, Israel, Turkey, India, Brazil, Canada, Australia, France, Azerbaijan, Greece, Germany and Singapore.

However advanced the technology might be, it is a question of strategic use of it. Thus, Morocco’s alert and flexible military force are always updated with the latest trainings.

Morocco’s purchase of the cutting-edge drones coincides with the securing of Guerguerat crossing blockade caused by separatist “Polisario” militia. A cause that raised a world-wide recognition and support for Morocco’s safe and just interference.

Separatist “Polisario” have bombarded social media outlets with viral fake news. However, Morocco’s alert intelligence agencies track the fake images and show the real story behind them.

Morocco’s purchase of “Heron” drones must be a hard pill to swallow for separatist “Polisario” funded by neighboring Algeria.

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