The US State Department has approved a possible foreign military sale of Harpoon Block II air launched missiles for the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces’ F-16 multi-role fighter jets.
The potential sale is worth an estimated $62 million and would see Morocco receive 10 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, in addition to containers, spare and repair parts, personnel training and training equipment.
Morocco’s request for the Boeing-built Harpoon missile purchase comes after the country was cleared to buy an additional 25 F-16C/D Block 72 fighters in March 2019.
The $4.8 billion deal also included upgrades to the 23 F‑16s already in service with the Royal Moroccan Air Forces to the more advanced F‑16V Block 52+ configuration.
Morocco ordered its first F-16 aircraft in 2009 as a replacement for the F-5E/F fleet.
More recently, Morocco was cleared by the state department to buy 36 Boeing-built AH-64E Apache attack helicopters. Approved in November 2019, the deal is worth an estimated $4.25 billion and includes AGM-114R Hellfire missiles, advanced precision kill weapon system kits, AAR-57 common missile warning systems, and AIM-92H Stinger missiles.
