Morocco wants F-35s – Israel should help, while UAE ‘will pay the bill’

[CEZAYIRLI]

Morocco wants F-35s - Israel should help, while UAE 'will pay the bill'

Morocco wants to improve its air force and is aiming to buy US stealth fighters F-35 Lighting II, seeking assistance from Israel, learned BulgarianMilitary.com

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Morocco wants F-35s – Israel should help, while UAE ‘will pay the bill’​

By TOC On Dec 16, 2021


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RABAT, ($1=9.26 Moroccan Dirhams) – Morocco wants to improve its air force and is aiming to buy American stealth fighters F-35 Lighting II, seeking assistance from Israel, learned BulgarianMilitary.com, citing Spanish sources from InfoDefense.

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The meeting that Israeli Defense Minister Benny Ganz held with his Moroccan counterpart Abdellatif Loudiyi three weeks ago was not at the highest level, Spain said.

According to them, although the defense agreement between Morocco and Israel is one of the most important military plans between them, it remains on the agenda because of a secret meeting between Ganz and Moroccan King Mohammed VI in one of the monarchs mansions.

The Spaniards claim that Mohammed VI expressed a desire to improve the air force with F-35 fighters. Morocco hopes and will appreciate Israel’s help in trying to persuade the United States to give the green light to the deal.

According to the Israeli intelligence firm JaFaJ, which specializes in the Middle East and North Africa region, Minister Loudiyi provided Ganz with information on the state of his country’s air force. BulgarianMilitary.com reminds us that Morocco has advanced F-16s, but in reality, a little over 20 units are currently active.

Rabat’s interest in acquiring the US F-35 fighter jets also came at a time when the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has expressed a desire to cover the cost of the deal if the United States agrees to provide it. This information was provided by a Moroccan government source, unnamed by the Spanish web portal InfoDefense.

Loudiyi has assured Ganz that his country would appreciate Israel’s help in persuading the administration of US President Joe Biden to allow the sale of F-35s and more modern weapons in general.

Moroccan media Assahifa revealed last April in the information that is still the most popular on its website that Morocco is also negotiating to get Biden to approve the sale of the F-35 to the UAE. The current president of the United States froze a year ago the delivery to the UAE of a $ 23.3 billion package of military equipment, which includes fifty F-35s.

BulgarianMilitary.com reminds you that this deal was negotiated by the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump in the last hours of his presidency.

Morocco believes that if the United States allows the sale of the F-35 to the UAE, it would be seen as a good sign in negotiations to acquire the same fighters, but this time from Rabat.

On the other hand, the purchase of 80 Rafale fighter jets from France, announced earlier this month, prompted the Emirates to consider a destination for its current fleet of Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets, which could eventually be sold to Egypt and Morocco. informed the specialized media Defense Arabic.

Meeting with the King​

Regarding Ganz’s unique meeting with Mohammed VI, the intelligence agency JaFaJ explained in its information that the king had conveyed to the Israeli minister his concern about the current military action by Algeria, which has had diplomatic ties with Rabat since last August. The disagreement stems largely from the conflict over the former Spanish province of Western Sahara, which flared up again last year after nearly 30 years of peace.

JaFaJ confirms in her information that she learned about the existence of this meeting from an Israeli source and that another source from European intelligence, closely related to the office of the Moroccan king, has confirmed some of the content. The agency also quoted a third Israeli source as saying Israeli intelligence had exchanged plans with Rabat to assess possible military action on the Algerian-Morocco border.

In this context, according to the publication, Morocco has asked for help from the Israeli authorities to find out with the help of satellites the possible movement of troops and police in its eastern neighbor.

The Israeli newspaper also reported, citing a source in his country, that Israeli Minister Benny Ganz’s visit to Morocco on November 24 and 25 was at the request of the King of Morocco.
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