The Polish Defence24 devoted the article to the story of the T-72B tanks supply, which Morocco agreed to transfer to Ukraine, and that are currently undergoing modernization at the facilities of the Czech Excalibur Army.
At the end of January 2023, the first mention appeared in the media that the first batch of 20 Moroccan T-72’s had undergone modernization and already gone on the battlefield to Ukraine. However, in the photo of the ready-made tanks shipment to Ukraine, there are not the T-72B’s can be seen, but the T-72M’s. And there can be two explanations for such a difference: either the T-72M photo is more of an illustrative nature or Morocco could make a financial contribution to the modernization of Soviet MBTs for the Ukrainian army.
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The authors of Defence24 are also sure that Morocco agreed to supply its T-72B tanks in exchange for additional M1 Abrams or M60 tanks from the USA (The Military Balance 2022 says that the Moroccan army has 222 M1A1SA Abrams tanks and 360 M60’s).
Defense Express adds that another factor could actually play a role here: a common threat. In open sources at the end of September 2022, there were reports that Iranian Shahed-136 appeared at the disposal of the POLISARIO group fighting in the Western Sahara against Morocco. The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the delivery of its "flying mopeds" and accused the Moroccan authorities of "unwillingness to settle the conflict peacefully." And it seems that this is what accelerated Rabat's decision to provide Ukraine with the T-72B’s.
Defense Express notes that the USA requested Soviet tanks from Morocco for Ukraine as early as April 2022, and the first reports of the actual transfer with further modernization appeared in late December last year. And it seems that the actions of Iranian terrorists accelerated the process.
Defence24 also states that, in theory, Morocco still has a stockpile of Soviet and russian armaments that could be transferred to Ukraine. In particular, 60 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. However, in case of the BMP-3 there is a mistake, since there is only an open source report as of 2015 about the intention of Morocco to buy such vehicles, but there is no information considering the actual delivery.
The authors of the publication also assume that the Moroccans may have a certain number of the BRDM-2 armored scout vehicles and the M-46 130 mm guns in storage, which might also be provided to Ukraine (However, Military Balance 2022 doesn’t say anything at all about the possible presence of such weapons in storage in Morocco).
Also, Morocco country has at its disposal the Konkurs ATGM and the Igla MANPADS. And these very systems are so much needed right here and right now to strengthen the Armed Forces of Ukraine in anticipation of new battles against russians.
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