Morocco equips its F-16 aircraft with US AGM-154C JSOW glide missiles
Morocco continues to equip its army with advanced military equipment thanks to its good relations with the most important international powers.
In this case, the Moroccan armed forces will equip its F-16 aircraft with AGM-154C JSOW glider missiles from the United States.
The US Pentagon has approved the sale to the Moroccan kingdom of 40 of these highly accurate, highly adaptable and highly effective remotely guided missiles. According to reports in various media, such as Le 360, the contract for the sale of this military weaponry is valued at 250 million dollars and is intended to increase the military potential of Morocco, considered ‘an important non-NATO ally that remains an important force for political stability and economic progress in North Africa,’ according to the US Department of Defense.
It is a partnership that also benefits US foreign policy by enhancing security in a hotspot area such as North Africa and the Sahel region.
The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is an aerial weapon developed by the US company Raytheon as a result of a joint project between the US Navy and the US Air Force to deploy a standardised medium-range precision-guided weapon specifically designed to attack defended targets from outside the range of their anti-aircraft defences, thereby increasing the safety of attacking aircraft and minimising their own losses. These missiles enable fighters to attack well-defended targets day and night and in adverse weather conditions.
The AGM-154C is equipped with an advanced multi-stage warhead and uses the GPS Precise Positioning System (PPS) ‘which offers a more accurate capability than the commercial version of GPS’. It is a weapon that, once launched, has the capability of autonomously homing in on its target.
This missile can reach medium-range targets, at distances of about 22 kilometres (low altitude drop) and up to more than 120 kilometres (high altitude drop). All this, while remaining at a good distance from enemy air defence systems.
The announcement of the deal was published in the US Federal Government Gazette and was given the green light by the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), an agency under the US Department of Defence responsible for financial and technical assistance, defence equipment transfers, and training and services to allied countries.
Also included in the sale package are training missiles, captive and free-flying vehicles, containers, integration support and testing, software development of operational weapons flight programmes, as well as training and logistical and engineering support services from the US government.
The contract for the sale of these missiles, subject to final approval by the US House of Representatives, will enable Morocco to become the first African country to acquire this type of precision-guided weaponry.
Close cooperation between Morocco and the United States
Cooperation between Morocco and the United States is intense. The US considers the Moroccan kingdom an indispensable ally in maintaining security in conflict zones such as North Africa and the Sahel, where criminal gangs engaged in all kinds of illicit business, such as human trafficking, and extremist terrorist groups operate.
The diplomatic relationship between the two countries is very close, especially following the US administration's decision in December 2020 to recognise Morocco's proposal for Western Sahara of broad autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the most serious and credible way to resolve the Sahrawi dispute. This position has been maintained over time by Joe Biden's current US administration.
This decision had to do with the North African country's accession to the famous Abraham Accords of September 2020, by which several Arab countries established diplomatic ties with Israel with a view to pacifying the Middle East and developing the region socially and economically as much as possible.
Since then, the relationship between Morocco and the United States has remained very strong, with important military agreements that have given the Moroccan kingdom access to a wide range of US military equipment, the most advanced in the world today, and have led to major joint military exercises such as the famous African Lion, which is the largest and most important annual joint exercise of the US Africa Command.