# Morocco’s Harpoon missiles will have reduced coastal targeting capabilities

- Link: https://www.military.africa/2020/04/moroccos-harpoon-missiles-will-have-reduced-coastal-targeting-capabilities/
- Published: 2020-04-28T10:08:38+01:00
- Author: Darek Liam

The Boeing AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles which Morocco requested to procure 
from the United States for its F-16s fighter jets will have reduced coastal targeting
capabilities says the US.

The Harpoon missiles to be supplied to Morocco are the “non-coastal target suppression”
version, which will not be able to attack land targets, this is according to an 
April 27 US Federal Register arms sale notification.

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It was announced on Tuesday, 14 April by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency(
DSCA) that the State Department[ had approved the sale of 10 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles to Morocco](https://www.military.africa/2020/04/morocco-to-equip-f-16s-with-harpoon-anti-ship-missiles)
for an estimated USD 62 million, although, the reduced capability was not mentioned.

One of the [new capabilities of the Block II AGM-84L Harpoon](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2001-08-08-Boeing-Harpoon-Block-II-Missile-Successfully-Attacks-Land-Target)
is its substantially improved ability to find target ships sailing close to shore
or in congested waters, as well as its ability to use its GPS-aided navigation to
fly precisely to pre-launch programmed target coordinates.

“**_Block II is part of our spiral development plan for Harpoon_**,” said Jim O’Neill,
Boeing general manager of Navy Missile Systems. “**_Harpoon has proven it is a naval
precision-strike weapon that has the ability to attack surface ships and land targets
at standoff ranges.”_**

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_**The proposed sale of the missiles and support will increase the Moroccan Air 
Force’s maritime partnership potential and align its capabilities with existing 
regional baselines. Morocco intends to use the missiles on its F-16, multi-role 
fighter aircraft to enhance its capabilities in effective defense of critical sea-
lanes. Morocco will have no difficulty absorbing these missiles into its armed forces.**_
The sales notification explained.

The Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) is looking to [procure additional
batch of F-
16 Fighting Falcons from the United States
 and upgrade its existing fleet. To that
effect, Morocco has requested for twenty-five units of the latest Block 72 fighters
worth some $3.8 billion.

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Lockheed Martin[ hopes to make additional sales](https://www.military.africa/2020/04/lockheed-martin-expects-additional-f-16s-sales-to-africa-asia-and-south-america-customers?v=65d8f7baa677)
of its F-16 fighter jets to countries in Africa especially Morocco. The North African
nation has also earmarked nearly a billion dollars for [the sale of various ammunition and weapons from the United States](https://www.military.africa/2019/09/morocco-requests-sale-of-f-16s-armament-tow-missiles-paveway-ii-jdam-from-the-us?v=65d8f7baa677)
through the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

The various ammunition and weapons requested includes armament for the Royal Moroccan
Air Force F-16 Viper fighter jets such as 5,810 MK82-1 bombs (fitted with Tritonal
explosive filling); 300 Mk 84-4 bombs (Tritonal filling); 105 Joint Direct Attack
Munitions (JDAM) KMU-572F/B Tail Kits; 180 MXU-651B/B Air Foil Groups (AFG) for 
GBU-10 Paveway II guided bombs; 4 125 MXU-650C/B AFGs for GBU-12 Paveway II guided
bombs; 4 305 MAU-169L/B Computer Control Groups (CCG) for GBU-10,-12,-16 weapons;
and 5 178 FMU-152 fuzes.

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