Raytheon will now supply F100-PW-229 engines for Royal Moroccan Air Force F-16 fighters in a $212 million contract.
Terms of the contract will see Raytheon’s Pratt & Whitney business complete manufacture of the F100-PW-229 engines at it’s East Hartford, Connecticut, plant, followed by the delivery in June 2025.
![](military.africa/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Raytheon-awarded-212-million-order-for-Moroccan-F-16-engines.jpg)
![](military.africa/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Raytheon-awarded-212-million-order-for-Moroccan-F-16-engines.jpg)
The US Department of Defence announced the contract award on 26 July, stating that it is part of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract contract.
The Royal Moroccan Air Force requested to procure 25 F-16C/D Block 72 jets, built by Lockheed Martin, and 29 Pratt & Whitney F100-229 engines and other related equipment from the U.S. government under a potential $3.9 billion FMS transaction the State Department approved in March 2019.
The March 2019 deal also included request to supply upgrade packages and ammunition to the country’s existing F-23 fighter jets comprising of 29 F100-PW-229 engines, APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars, Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems, AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM missiles, Paveway II guided bombs and GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs, amongst others.
Also, within that period (in September 2019), Morocco requested for the sale of F-16’s armament, TOW missiles, Paveway II, JDAM from the United States, earmarking nearly a billion dollar for the sale of the various ammunition and weapons.
Subsequently, in August 2020, the United States Department of Defence awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to produce and supply Morocco with twenty-four F-16 Viper multi-role fighter jet through its foreign military sales contract.
These acquisition are said to be part of the country’s aim to modernize its military in order to achieve a five-year plan for “regional military supremacy,” amid the country’s long-running regional rivalry with Algeria.
![Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) F-16s (credit: F-16.net)](military.africa/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/moroccan-f-16.jpg)
![Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) F-16s (credit: F-16.net)](military.africa/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/moroccan-f-16.jpg)
The Royal Moroccan Air Force currently operates 23 F-16C/D Block 50/52 aircraft that it received from 2011 to 2012, although it lost one during campaign over Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition).
The United States has also approved a contract worth $68 million to export ten AGM-84L Harpoon Block II Air Launched missiles for the Royal Moroccan Air Force F-16s. The sale of the missiles and support will increase the Royal Moroccan Air Force’s maritime partnership potential and align its capabilities with existing regional baselines.
Although, 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 U.S.
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.