In first, Royal Moroccan Air Force C-130 transport planes lands in Israel

A Royal Moroccan Airforce C-130 landed at the Hatzor airbase in southern Israel on Sunday, marking the first time that an air force platform belonging to the North African country landed in the Jewish state.

The plane flew to Israel ahead of an international drill set to take part in the south of the country with the United States this week.

The plane was spotted by aviation followers on Sunday morning.

While the IDF would not comment on “collaborations with a specific country,” the military told The Jerusalem Post that “the IDF cooperates with a variety of foreign countries and armies, and conducts exercises, senior meetings, joint research and more.

The IAF takes part in several international drills each year in order to prepare for a wide range of scenarios and to strengthen professional ties and operational knowledge. The IAF took part in two international drills in June, including deploying F-35s to bases abroad for the large-scale Falcon Strike in Italy.

Meanwhile, Morocco just concluded the large-scale 17th annual African Lion drill that saw the participation of the US, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Senegal, and Tunisia. In addition, military observers from 30 countries were also present.

According to local press, 7,000 participated and trained to respond terrorism, chemical attacks, and cyberwarfare during US Africa Command’s premier joint annual exercise. A statement by USACOM said that the “African Lion 21 is a multi-domain, multi-component, and multi-national exercise, which will employ a full array of mission capabilities with the goal to strengthen interoperability among partner nations and enhance the ability to operate in the African theater of operations.”

Israel and Morocco have had close economic, diplomatic and military ties for years and in December the two countries signed a normalization agreement. According to a report in Haaretz, military ties between Israel and Morocco primarily involve intelligence cooperation and trade in arms.

In January of last year the Moroccan army received three Israeli reconnaissance drones in a deal worth some $48 million. The deal between the two countries was signed in 2014 and closed via the French company Dassault. 

France has been operating the Heron under the name Harfang and according to reports in 2014, the drones acquired by Morocco were retired by the French Air Force after several years in service in Afghanistan. According to the report in Intelligence Online, the drones will be deployed to counter extremist groups and fight rebel movements in the Western Sahara. 

The drones, which can stay airborne for over 50 hours, have reportedly been fitted with a device for carrying three surveillance cameras, video recording system, an air-ground communication system as well as electro-optical systems for day-night vision.  

According to another report, Israel sold Morocco other military systems, including military communications and control systems (such as radar systems for fighter jets) via a third party.