Morocco to buy a military intelligence satellite from Israel in a deal worth one billion dollars
Israel Aerospace Industries has signed a contract with Morocco to supply it with a military intelligence satellite in a deal worth one billion dollars, Moroccan and foreign media reported.
The Israeli state-owned company said on Tuesday it had entered into a billion-dollar contract to supply one of its systems to an unspecified third party.
Defense Hair reported that the company’s president, Amir Peretz, visited Morocco through a European country in recent days to sign the deal, which has been kept secret until now.
The Israeli company maintained the confidentiality of the deal, as it had informed the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Tuesday, July 3, 2024, of a contract it signed with an undeclared party, which includes financial payments based on compliance with specific conditions over a period of nearly five years, while the exchange’s announcements didn’t specify the nature of the contract.
According to a report by the French La Tribune newspaper, the Israel and Morocco have already agreed on the deal at the end of 2023 and were signed in the past few days, so that the satellite will be delivered in about five years and the two satellites will be replaced by the Airbus satellites currently used by Morocco – Mohamed VI-A and Mohammed VI-B, adding that the Morocco’s moves aim to improve its military capabilities in the field of air, land and sea defense.
The Israeli company, which makes some of Israel’s most advanced missile defense systems and drones, said in a disclosure to regulators in Tel Aviv that the deal was scheduled to be executed over five years.
Morocco’s Le Desk and Le 360 Reported quoted Israeli sources in Rabat as saying that the contract stipulates that the company will provide the Ofek 13 spy satellite, which will replace two satellites produced by Airbus and Thales.
In 2021, Israel and Morocco approved a defense agreement covering intelligence, cooperation in military industries, and procurement.
