The State Department has approved nearly $1 billion in arms sales to Morocco, including additional ammunition for the country’s F-16 fleet.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on Wednesday of a $776 million deal for over 2,000 of Raytheon’s [RTN] TOW-2A missiles and a separate $209 million agreement for F-16 ammunition.
The TOW-2A missile deal also includes 400 launchers and an additional 28 missiles for testing.
“The proposed sale of the TOW 2A Missiles and TOW Launchers will advance Morocco’s efforts to develop an integrated ground defense capability,” officials wrote in a statement.
Morocco’s deal for F-16 ammunition includes 5,810 MK82-1 bombs, 300 MK84-4 bombs and over 100 Joint Direct Attack Munitions tail kits.
“The proposed sale will improve Morocco’s capability to meet current and future threats of terror from violent extremist organizations prevalent throughout the region,” officials wrote. “Additionally, the additional munitions provided by this sale will improve interoperability with the United States and other regional allies and enhance Morocco’s ability to undertake coalition operations, as it has done in the past in flying sorties against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.”
The principal contractors for the deal include Raytheon, Northrop Grumman [NOC] Innovation Systems, General Dynamics [GD], Kilgore Chemring Group and Kaman Precision Products.