defenceWeb
Morocco is looking to acquire a number of Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters from the United States, with the deal to be concluded within the next two years.
Morocco is understood to have been negotiating for the acquisition of Apache helicopters since April 2018 after considering the Apache and Turkey’s T-129 ATAK helicopter.
In that month, Chief of Staff of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces General Abdelfattah Louarak visited the United States, where he is believed to have been briefed on the Apache.
According to Moroccan news source Le360, Morocco will receive an unknown number of Apaches within two years.
A United States government official said that the State Department declines to comment on potential or pending sales before they are notified to Congress. Foreign military sales have to be approved by the US Congress before they can proceed.
Morocco will only be the second African country after Egypt to operate the Apache. Egypt is a big user of the Apache, with 46 AH-64Ds in service. In November 2018 it requested the sale of an additional ten AH-64E Apaches for around $1 billion. These would join the Egyptian Air Force’s Kamov Ka-52s, 46 of which have been ordered.
Morocco’s military has no dedicated attack helicopter, instead relying on two dozen Gazelles, which are flown by both Army Aviation and the Royal Moroccan Air Force. The Army also flies several A109s and Alouette IIs, whilst the Air Force flies a dozen CH-47 Chinooks, two dozen SA330 Pumas, two dozen Bell 205s (AB-205As), a dozen AB-206 Jet Rangers, and several AB-212s and Dauphins.
