Morocco will be first North African nation with HIMARS

MOROCCO IS ON TRACK TO BE THE FIRST NORTH AFRICAN NATION WITH HIMARS. THE DEAL WAS APPROVED LAST YEAR BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT.

MOROCCO IS BUYING 18 M142 HIMARS LAUNCHERS, ALONG WITH 9 HUMVEES AND OTHER SUPPORT VEHICLES, PRACTICE PODS, AND EQUIPMENT.

MADE BY LOCKHEED MARTIN, THE HIMARS–OR HIGH MOBILITY ARTILLERY ROCKET SYSTEM–IS ONE OF THE PREMIERE LONG-RANGE MOBILE PRECISION FIRE LAUNCHERS IN THE WORLD.

THEY ARE CAPABLE OF FIRING SEVERAL DIFFERENT TYPES OF MUNITIONS, LIKE GUIDED ROCKETS, THE ARMY’S TACTICAL MISSILE–ALSO CALLED ATACMS–AND EVEN THE NEW PRECISION STRIKE MISSILE.

HIMARS ARE SO GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO, THE UKRAINIANS EVEN MADE UP A PRETTY CATCHY FOLK SONG ABOUT THEM.

THE DEAL WITH MOROCCO WILL SEE ITS LAUNCHERS ARMED WITH 40 ATACMS ROUNDS AND 72 GUIDED ROCKETS, WHICH WILL CONSIST OF BOTH UNITARY WARHEAD AND THE ALTERNATIVE WARHEAD ROCKETS.

IN A SEPARATE ARMS SALE WHICH WAS ALSO APPROVED LAST YEAR, THE U.S. AGREED TO DELIVER MORE JOINT STANDOFF WEAPONS–OR JSOWs- TO THE MOROCCAN AIR FORCE.
OFFICIALLY LABELED THE AGM-154, THE JSOW IS CALLED AN AIR TO GROUND MISSILE BUT IT OPERATES ESSENTIALLY LIKE A GLIDE BOMB, AND COMES IN TWO VARIANTS.

THE MOROCCAN AIR FORCE FLIES F-16s ARMED WITH JSOWs ALREADY, BUT THE HIMARS DEAL MARKS THE FIRST TIME A NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRY WAS ALLOWED TO BUY THE SYSTEM. JORDAN AND THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES ARE THE ONLY TWO COUNTRIES IN THE REGION WITH HIMARS.

MOROCCAN MEDIA IS REPORTING THE AMERICAN-MADE HIMARS WILL COMPLEMENT CHINESE LAUNCH SYSTEMS MOROCCO ALREADY HAD IN ITS INVENTORY. THOSE SYSTEMS WERE PURCHASED BETWEEN 6 AND 10 YEARS AGO.

FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M RYAN ROBERTSON. FOR MORE UNBIASED, STRAIGHT FACT REPORTING LIKE THIS, DOWNLOAD THE STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS APP TODAY, OR LOG ON TO SAN.COM.