Morocco purchases 25 F-16 and upgrades 23 others for $4.772 billion

The US Department of State approved, in March, the possible sale of foreign military sale to Morocco of F-16C/D Block 72 aircraft for an estimated cost of $3.787 billion, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency revealed in a document published Monday.

The Kingdom has also purchased related equipment in a sale that the Congress was notified about on March the 22nd.

According to the same source, the Moroccan government has requested to purchase twenty-nine engines (Pratt & Whitney F100-229) (includes 4 spares), twenty-six APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars (includes 1 spare), twenty-six Modular Mission Computers (includes 1 spare), among others.

In addition to its recent purchase, Morocco already «operates an F-16 fleet and also requested an upgrade for 23 of its F-16 aircraft to the F-16V configuration at an estimated cost of $985.2 million», Defense Post said quoting the American agency. This operation brings the total cost of this sale to $4.772 billion.

«The purchase will improve interoperability with the United States and other regional allies and enhance Morocco’s ability to undertake coalition operations, as it has done in the past in flying sorties against ISIS in Syria and Iraq», DSCA said.