Marrakech – Acting on royal instructions, Delegate Minister for National Defense Abdellatif Loudiyi received in Rabat on Thursday a US congressional delegation led by Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The two sides welcomed the centuries-old ties between Morocco and the United States and the high level of military cooperation between them. They reaffirmed a shared commitment to consolidate mutually beneficial relations and to strengthen bilateral cooperation.
Their talks reviewed the state of defense cooperation, marked by regular meetings of the Defense Consultative Committee, frequent high-level visits, and the joint annual African Lion exercise.
According to a statement from the National Defense Administration, the drill now serves as a major lever for the interoperability of participating armed forces, particularly African ones.
Loudiyi welcomed what the statement described as frank and positive US support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its entire territory and the Moroccanness of the Western Sahara since 2020, along with constructive American efforts to reach a definitive settlement of the dispute.
He also pointed to South-South cooperation and regional integration initiatives launched under King Mohammed VI, positioning Morocco as an actor of shared stability and prosperity across Africa.
For its part, the delegation hailed the King’s leadership and described Morocco as an important actor of stability and peace amid regional security challenges. Both sides voiced the ambition to consolidate the strategic partnership, with cooperation extending to the defense industry, cybersecurity, and space.
The meeting comes as the partnership moves toward a long-term footing in American law. The US Senate Armed Services Committee has advanced a defense bill directing the Pentagon to position Morocco as Washington’s leading military partner in Africa over the next decade.
Section 1268 of the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act instructs the Secretary of Defense to submit a detailed plan within 180 days of enactment, aligned with the US-Morocco Roadmap for Defense Cooperation covering 2026 through 2036.
Introduced on June 15 by Senator Roger Wicker, who chairs the committee, the provision would codify the roadmap signed in Washington on April 15.
That signing followed a visit to the Pentagon by Loudiyi and Inspector General of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) Mohamed Berrid for the 14th session of the Defense Consultative Committee.
The bill calls for cooperative security locations on Moroccan soil, deeper counterterrorism cooperation, force modernization through US defense articles, and an all-domain range complex, while naming African Lion among the exercises to be expanded.
Planning for that exercise is already underway. The Royal Armed Forces (FAR) held the first planning meeting for African Lion 2027 from September 21 to 25 at the Southern Zone Command headquarters in Agadir, with representatives from several countries, including Morocco and the US.
The exercise will run from April 25 to May 7, 2027 across Agadir, Tan Tan, Ben Guérir, Kénitra, and Dakhla.
The 2027 edition will also serve as a proof of concept for the Africa Multidomain Training and Experimentation Center (AMTEC), established under a memorandum signed with US Africa Command (AFRICOM) on July 13.
Based in Tan-Tan by 2030, AMTEC will combine a multidomain training area, a drone academy, and an innovation and experimentation center for counterterrorism and regional security work.
Morocco has held Major Non-NATO Ally status since 2004 and controls the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. According to SIPRI, the US supplied 60% of Morocco’s major arms imports between 2021 and 2025. Over the same period, Morocco ranked 28th among the world’s largest arms importers, accounting for 1% of global imports.
