If you’re like me, when hearing the phrase “US allies”, countries like the United Kingdom, Israel and Australia come to mind. Morocco is not one that comes to mind, however between 2011-2019, Morocco received billions in discounted military hardware and equipment from the US – more so than any other US ally.

It’s not just any hardware either. In 2011, the US sent 200 Abraham tanks to Morocco, a state-of-the-art battle tank that underpins the US army. In total, nearly six thousand vehicles were sold, including over 400 armored personnel carriers and a plethora of aid and support vehicles. A further quarter of million weapons and 21 million rounds of ammunition were also sold to Morocco over this period – a serious amount of lethal fire power.

So why Morocco in particular? Morocco and the US have a long history of allyship dating back to the American Revolutionary War. Although not a beacon of western democratic values, it is a strategic partner of the US, for it’s location, proximity to Europe and Africa.

The US operates a programme for Excess Defense Articles (EDA), which it says is “typically used for modernization of partner forces”.[1] The excess defense articles are provided at a reduced rate or as a grant to foreign countries – and the receiving country pays for the shipment and logistics of receiving the articles.

For more information on excess defense articles and the data source, see this link: https://www.dsca.mil/programs/excess-defense-articles-eda

[1] https://www.dsca.mil/programs/excess-defense-articles-eda