Morocco receives M109 howitzers

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The Moroccan military has apparently taken delivery of second hand M109A5 155 mm self-propelled howitzers from the United States.

Photos posted earlier this week on Moroccan websites show at least a dozen M109s that were offloaded at Casablanca’s port.

According to the US Excess Defense Articles database, Morocco requested 70 surplus M109A5 howitzers and these were authorised to be transferred in January this year.

Morocco already uses earlier versions of the M109 and received 60 second hand M109A5s from the United States in 2012, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as well as 43 M109A1s from Belgium in 2008 and 40 M109A1s from Switzerland in 2005 (in a sale financed by the UAE). According to the UN Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA), three M109A3s and a single M109A4 were delivered from the United States in 2013.

More defence equipment may be on the way for Morocco, as the Excess Defense Articles database shows the US Army has been authorised to supply 600 excess M113A3 armoured personnel carriers, 150 M557A2 command post carriers, 48 000 M16A1/A2/A4 assault rifles, 14 000 M203 grenade launchers, 4 500 M240 machineguns and 7 000 M249 machineguns. The authorisation for this equipment was given between March and September this year but this does not mean the transfer has or will necessarily go through.