According to data from The Military Balance, Morocco had an annual defense budget of up to 7 billion dollars (approximately 65 billion Moroccan dirhams) from 2022 to 2024.
Although the amount of Morocco's defense budget may not seem particularly large on the surface, this North African nation attracts global arms market players to such an extent that various competitive methods are employed, including some unfair practices. This is essentially what is discussed in a publication on the Infodefensa portal.
To elaborate, this publication revealed a rather intriguing scandal, in which Moroccan representatives initially had to refute a "leak" regarding an alleged intention to purchase fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets. The subsequent step was to state that they do not rule out the possibility of acquiring these fighters under the new term of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Specifically, the initial "leak" about the potential acquisition of 32 F-35 aircraft for the Moroccan Air Force at a cost of 17 billion dollars was propagated by certain Israeli media, with the "source" being one of the lesser-known outlets that typically receives a maximum of 100 views per day.
In response to this leak, the Moroccan newspaper Medias24 and reputable Moroccan military analyst Abdelhamid Harifi joined the discussion. According to the mentioned analyst, when it comes to defense expenditures, Morocco currently prioritizes the modernization of its F-16s (the Moroccan Air Force operates 23 of these aircraft) and the acquisition of an unspecified number of new AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
Regarding the possibility of acquiring F-35s for the Moroccan Air Force, the statement was framed as follows: "perhaps in four years, towards the end of Donald Trump's term, we will discuss the purchase of these aircraft."
It was also noted that there had been a "leak" circulating about Morocco supposedly wanting to purchase 30 Mirage 2000-9 aircraft from the UAE, which was also denied (it is worth adding that Morocco currently operates only about 25 Mirage F1 aircraft of various modifications, the actual combat readiness of which is questionable).
Additionally, from Defense Express, we can add that Morocco frequently appears in news regarding potentially lucrative arms contracts. One of the recent examples includes a report in December 2024 indicating that India aims to compete with its Arjun against Abrams in Morocco, as well as France's intention to sell Rafale jets to the Moroccan Air Force, which was discussed back in September of last year.
It is also worth recalling that at the beginning of 2023, the Moroccan military transferred a certain number of its T-72 tanks to assist the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In one of our publications, we discussed what might actually lie behind Morocco's transfer of T-72B tanks to Ukraine.
