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Morocco will acquire US-made Apache helicopters within the next two years.
| 2019
Morocco will acquire AH-64 Apache military helicopters from the US within the next two years.
AH-64 Apache (Picture source: US Army)
“Morocco has a pressing need for new sophisticated attack helicopters,” a source told Moroccan news outlet Le360.
The Moroccan government considered two helicopter models, the US made AH-64 Apache, and the Turkish made T-129 ATAK helicopter, finally settling for the US model mid last year.
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems. It is armed with a 30 mm (1.18 in) M230 chain gun carried between the main landing gear, under the aircraft's forward fuselage, and four hardpoints mounted on stub-wing pylons for carrying armament and stores, typically a mixture of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods. The AH-64 has significant systems redundancy to improve combat survivability.
After Egypt, Morocco will be the second African country to own the AH-64 Apache.