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Last week, the Royal Air Force (FAR) have placed an order with the United States for the acquisition ofof 500 bombs GBU-39B small in size (SDB-I) and two inert training bombs GBU-39 (T-1)/B with rocket. This order includes training munitions, containers, support equipment, spare parts, consumables, as well as training, maintenance and technical support services. The estimated total cost of this transaction is $86 millionindicates the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) In a press release.
Morocco also ordered 30 air-to-air missiles AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM and a guide section AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM. This order includes AMRAAM telemetry kits, control section spares, test equipment, as well as technical, logistics and engineering support services. The estimated total cost of this transaction is $88.37 millionadds the press release.
The purchases announced at the end of last week constitute “a real game changer at the regional level for different reasons”, comments the military expert Abdelhamid Harifi for Médias24.
“For the AIM120C8this is the export version reserved for allies very close to the USA. Morocco will be the only African country to have it, to give its air force a means of strengthening its air deterrence and provide a real force multiplier for the F16“, explains our interlocutor.
“Indeed, since the acquisition of these [les F16, ndlr]we opted for the AIM120C7 with an optimal range of 70 km and a maximum range of 110 km; the C8 will increase this range to more than 160 km with guidance and anti-jamming technology combat proven giving the F16s, with their AESA radar, the possibility of defeating any enemy fighter threat even before the latter can detect the F16,” explains the military expert.
As for the SDB-I, “it must be said that it is not a new purchase, but the quantity announced is significant. In 2019 it was one of the main novelties in the purchase of the new batch of the f16 blk72, with the modest number of 50… Now, we are announcing 500 bombs!”, underlines Abdelhamid Harifi.
The expert affirms that these are flying bombs with a missile effect, whose range can vary between 80 and 110 km, of low tonnage, but with significant destructive capacities, capable of penetrating reinforced concrete blocks up to 2.4 m and explode inside.
“It is a bomb that has already shown enormous capabilities to carry out very precise surgical attacks, such as the images of attacks on buildings in the Lebanon or in Gaza, without harming neighboring buildings. We even saw an attack on a building on the 3rd floor, without the 4th and 5th being affected,” describes our interlocutor.
For Abdelhamid Harifi, “the low tonnage and the enormous destructive capacity already tested in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza, coupled with the impossibility of jamming, give our F16s and even our future drones, if they are wired to win, opportunities to carry out attacks against enemy bases and strategic installations by targeting more sensitive and high-value objectives, without having to mobilize a significant number of the fleet, and therefore at a very low cost in a context where the war economy is becoming more and more costly.”
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