Israel to Help Morocco Manufacture Armed Drones

By ARIE EGOZI

Defence Industry

Tel Aviv: Israel will help Morocco to manufacture armed drones. According to a report in the Africa Intelligence website, Israel and Morocco are in the process of developing a project to produce “suicide” drones in the kingdom. As reported by the website, the new agreement will allow Morocco to manufacture armed drones in commercial quantities and at relatively low costs. In addition, the production line in Morocco is close to important export markets.

The drone that will be produced in Morocco is intended for attack purposes but it can also carry out intelligence gathering missions. The report added that the agreement for the joint project comes after several months of successful negotiations between the Moroccan side and the Israeli company BlueBird Aero Systems. Last year Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) purchased 50 % of BlueBird’s shares. BlueBird develops and manufactures different types of drones for intelligence gathering missions. Since the acquisition of half of the company’s shares by IAI , it is developing new versions of armed drones that are in growing demand

In July, the foreign ministers of Morocco and Israel signed three accords during the first visit of Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid. Morocco was the fourth Arab state to establish ties with Israel last year after the signing of Abraham Accords.