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.
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.
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, power has been consolidated and maintained by the XX family since 1680, it is a strategic partner of the US, for it’s location, proximity to Europe and Africa. It was quick to denounce Al-Qaeda and had zero tolerance towards ISIS.
The data is published by the EDA programme, and allows the US to sell “excess” military equipment and hardware to foreign countries and allies as approved by congress.
[1] https://www.dsca.mil/programs/excess-defense-articles-eda
