Madrid is concerned about the new military agreement between the United States and Morocco. Spain, which is unable to renew its arsenal, fears that the balance of power will change, with the possible delivery to Morocco of the F-35, the most expensive and the most efficient aircraft in the world.
This agreement signed on October 2, during the visit of the head of the Pentagon, Mark Esper, to Rabat, won the Royal Armed Forces (FAR), among others, the modernization of their fleet of F-16, the fighter jet that has undergone a series of technical and technological changes, as well as that of the 6×6 Cougars armored tanks and the MIM-104 Patriot long-range surface-to-air missile system, El Espanol newspaper reported, continuing that a The $ 768 million contract to be completed in February 2023, as announced by the Pentagon, lists Morocco among 22 countries to acquire advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs).
The United States, through this agreement, would give Morocco the keys to build drones and radars, for surveillance and attack, and to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in land and sea, by day. like night, up to 34 hours in a row, let the publication know.
Thus, the Kingdom is in the process of joining the very closed club of countries which will have access to the last jewel of the American war machine, “which until then can only be maneuvered by only a thousand pilots”, indicates the Iberian newspaper. .
For the Spanish military leaders, it is important that their country equips itself with F-35s before 2030, continues the same source, indicating that with this transfer of technology, Madrid fears a real threat to its strategic and vital interests in the Mediterranean and in Atlantic.
The other source of concern for Spain, the cyber-security and cyber defense components contained in the agreement, with the installation, of the antennas of the National Security Agency (NSA), of the intelligence of the American navy attached to the ministry Defense, as well as the CIA, the newspaper concludes.
