Rabat – Morocco is set to welcome 2,500 American soldiers at the end of March 2020 for the joint Moroccan-American military exercise known as “African Lion.”
The exercise will start before the end of March and end in the final week of April.
The training includes a maritime exercise with naval fire and air exercises using F-16 and KC-135 aircraft. It will also include field training exercises for paratroopers, medical exercises, chemical and biological response exercises, and a humanitarian civic aid program.
The exercise aims to prepare the ground for interoperability between partner countries against terror networks and organizations threatening the region.
African Lion is the largest military exercise for American troops in Africa. Tunisian, Senegalese, Spanish, Italian, British, and Dutch armed forces will also take part in the training.
In November, The US Army Africa Commanding General (AFRICOM) Major-General Roger Cloutier met with Morocco’s Major-General, Inspector of Infantry, and Commander of the South Zone, Belkheir El Farouk, to prepare for the exercise’s logistics.
During the 2019 exercise, the two militaries used invisible laser-guided bombs, the GBU-24 Paveway III and GBU-12 Paveway II for the first time. Moroccan and US F-16 aircrafts also conducted surface attacks and large-scale operations.
Military units from Canada, Spain, the UK, Senegal, and Tunisia also took part in the exercise.
