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Rabat – Morocco will set up a military factory to bolster its defense industry in cooperation with Belgian aerospace company the Blue Berry Group and America’s Lockheed Martin.
Sabca and Sabena Aerospace – part of the Blueberry Group – signed on Thursday an agreement with defense company Lockheed Martin and the Moroccan government to develop the so-called Maintenance Aero Maroc (MAM).
Operating at Benslimane military airport, MAM will support “the sustainment requirements of the Royal Moroccan Air Force and bring high-tech jobs and technical abilities within the country,” Sabca said in a press release.
The 15,000 sqm maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upgrade (MRO&U) center will serve military aircraft and helicopters from Benslimate airport and could create up to 300 jobs.
The partnership “will ensure [that] the Kingdom of Morocco receives the best possible industrial facility, equipment, training, and certification to support the sustainment requirements of the Royal Moroccan Air Force and other international customers,” Danya Trent, vice president of Lockheed Martin said in the press release.
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Abdeltif Loudyi, Minister Delegate to the Head of the Moroccan Government in charge of the National Defense Administration, signed the agreement on behalf of the Moroccan state.
Blueberry Group has “accumulated 50 years of experience in the maintenance, repair, and upgrade of military aircrafts such as C-130 and F-16 which allows it to offer high quality sustainment services for the Moroccan Air Force and then rapidly to other customers in the region,” noted the CEO, Stephan Burton.
Blueberry Group has been operating in Morocco since 2012 through its subsidiary Sabca Maroc.
In September, the company announced a MAD 181 million ($18.37 million) investment in the construction of an aerostructure assembly line for Swiss passenger and cargo aircraft Pilatus PC-12, near Mohammed V airport in Casablanca.
In recent years, Morocco has been modernizing its military capacity, ranking 29th as the largest importer of major arms in 2021.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported that Moroccan arm supplies come primarily from the US (90%), followed by France (9.2%) and the UK (0.3%).
In February 2022, Morocco signed a $ 500 million deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to purchase the Barak MX air and military defense system that can protect from a range of missile threats and unmanned drones.
