Morocco’s partnership with Israel, albeit very contentious has afforded it the title of North Africa’s first drone manufacturer. Morocco has become the first country in North Africa and the Middle East to manufacture suicide drones, placing it in the elite of club of drone manufacturers. The drone is said to have some impressive capabilities with the intent of reconnaissance and attack.
A report seen in Morocco World News disclosed that BlueBird a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) specializing in the design, development, and manufacture of drones, carried out the new SpyX suicide drone’s maiden field test in Morocco recently.
This drone is part of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR). The footage that was uploaded to BlueBird’s website shows that the pilot’s test mission was considered a huge success.
The drone which has range of 50km was built for the purpose of reconnaissance and attack missions. It can be deployed for an hour and a half.
It was reported by I24News, that Israeli media first reported seeing these drones in Morocco in June 2023. This indicates that the FAR tested the drones before acquiring them in large quantities, becoming the first army to use this kind of drone following BlueBird’s introduction of them only a few months earlier.
Morocco’s dilemma
“In September 2022, Morocco placed an order for 150 WanderB and ThunderB drones, also from BlueBird, according to both El Español and I24News. I24News further reported that in the same month, Morocco requested two Ofek-13 reconnaissance satellites from Israel to strengthen and modernize its surveillance and intelligence capabilities,” the report by Morocco World News reads.
A report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), on the arms trade shows that Morocco gets most of its weapons from Israel, as Israel sends 11% of its weapons to the North African country.
This presents some complications given Israel’s war on Gaza, and Morocco’s disapproval of Israel’s brutality in the region.
Recently, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI ordered the disbursement of emergency humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, consisting of 30 tons of essential food products and 10 tons of emergency medicines and blankets.
However, the Moroccan government has not heeded the call of outraged Moroccan protestors to freeze diplomatic relations with Israel.
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