Rabat – As the African Lion military exercises come to a close, a final day of specular military demonstrations concludes the successful event in style. African Lion’s last day featured an exhibition this Friday, June 18, showcasing live military maneuvers performed by both Morocco and the United States.
Morocco World News has been on the ground in Tan-Tan, reporting on the event.
The concluding day’s event took place in the Cape Draa Observation Post, 33 km northwest of the city of TanTan, with the presence of military personnel from the Netherlands, Egypt, Qatar, Italy, Senegal, Uganda, NATO, and Belgium, all observant delegations.
The Moroccan-led exercise kicked off with three low flyovers from Moroccan F-16 Fighting Falcons, an impressive show of skill matched by American jets making similar maneuvers and featuring the fighter aircraft.
Today’s impressive events featured exercises for Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo airplanes, followed by the Moroccan aircraft, resulting in a spectacular display of both country’s military might.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, an airborne infantry brigade combat team of the United States was present to perform a parachute drop at the end of the aerial exercise, but it was canceled due to strong winds and unexpected weather conditions.
The aerial exercise was followed by ground force maneuvers from infantry units and artillery brigades from both Morocco and the United States.
The event features controlled targeted strikes performed by FAR units using artillery, anti-armor missiles, and M1 Abrams tanks. In-depth bombing followed shortly after, which the US units took over, using the same arms and artillery used by the Moroccan units.
The 1st Battalion, an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Camp Pendleton, California, opened with the infantry fire, followed by the Georgia National Guard 214 field artillery regiment.
The Georgia National Guard infantry was the largest American presence during this morning’s event.
The finale of this explosive last day is yet to be seen, Morocco World News will report back on what is sure to be an exemplary closing to a “very successful” military exercise, as relayed by the organizing committee to MWN.
