Kiosk360. The 18th edition of the combined Moroccan-American military exercise has just ended. This year’s edition saw the participation of 10 African and international countries. Details in this press review from the daily Assabah.
The combined Moroccan-American exercise African Lion 2022 ended Thursday in Cap Draâ, in the Tan Tan region, with training between the Royal Armed Forces and the American Armed Forces and exercises in the Mahbes area. These exercises confirmed Morocco’s military power and its ability to protect its territory and airspace, writes the daily. Assabah in its July 2-3 weekend edition.
During this exercise, the daily continues, maneuvers were carried out by F16 planes, and also included bombardments of targets by Apache-type helicopters and with the help of armored vehicles, accompanied by Abrams tanks.
The exercise also included shelling by Abrams tanks during maneuvers and shelling with HIMARS missile launchers, among other military equipment. The bombardments with real ammunition from the Abrams tanks, Assabah specifies, took place in Mahbes, a few kilometers from Tindouf. Thus, underlines the daily, the Polisario militias and their Algerian mentor, were able to see firsthand the strike force of the FAR and the effectiveness of these Moroccan-American maneuvers.
During the military exercise, held at Cap Draâ, continues the daily newspaper, air and land maneuvers were carried out with the participation of FAR units and American forces. The aerial maneuvers included the execution of several missions by means of the FRA and the US Air Force, among others, Moroccan F16 planes, American B1 bombers and American AH 64 Apache helicopters.
As for land maneuvers, they focused on firing heavy artillery shells, launching long-range surface-to-surface missiles and launching missiles from Moroccan-American Abrams armored vehicles, as well as infantry using heavy armored vehicles carrying soldiers.
These military maneuvers thus included shooting sessions using different weapons (individual, Abrams tanks, heavy artillery, anti-tank missile launchers). In addition to the parachute jump for paratroopers, the daily also mentioned the use of Moroccan Chinook helicopters and Bayraktar TB2 type drones.
Taking statements from General Stephen Townsend, commander of the American command for Africa (AFRICOM), the daily notes that the African Lion 2022 exercise “is the largest and most diversified multinational and multidisciplinary operation that we are conducting in Africa. , in partnership with the Royal Armed Forces since 2004”.
The African Lion exercise has three main objectives: to hone the skills of all participating units, to improve interoperability and to strengthen the ability to work and cooperate now and in the future, noted General Townsend in particular before concluding by emphasizing that these maneuvers have strengthened the partnership between Morocco and the United States as well as the participating countries.
For his part, Colonel Major Abdelhaq Mhasni, deputy officer to the head of the Third Office of the General Staff/South Zone, taken over by Assabahindicated that the 18th edition of the African Lion exercise was marked by the achievement of all the objectives of military training in the various fields of planning and multinational implementation of operations, logistical support, interoperability, humanitarian aid, material support and integration of new partners.