An expert compares the capabilities of the armies of Morocco and Spain

Recently, the Kingdom of Morocco’s conclusion of a number of deals to purchase various weapons, land, air and sea, has attracted the attention of neighboring Spain, and a group of research institutions in this European country have begun to compare the strength of the two countries in the military field.

Josep Paquis, Professor of Political Science at the University of Barcelona, ​​founding member of the International Security Studies Group and collaborator with the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies (research centre of the Spanish Ministry of Defence), has in recent years published in-depth analyses of the state and evolution of Moroccan military power on land, at sea and in the air.

This expert believes that the possibility of an armed conflict between Spain and Morocco is remote, and in an interview with the newspaper “El Confidencial”, he explained the details of the comparison between the Spanish armed forces and their Moroccan counterparts, in the three main military fields: land, sea and air.

“The most equal army between Spain and Morocco is the ground army,” Paques said, noting that if a war breaks out between the two countries, Spain “could suffer a loss of forces in this field.”

Josep Paques added that when it comes to ground forces, the Moroccan army has the best resources and conditions in various categories, adding that “the aspect previously mentioned, which draws the most attention, is the purchase of Abrams armored tanks,” adding that “Morocco doubles our number of armored cars, as “The southern neighbor has about 400 Abrams tanks compared to the 219 Leopard tanks that the Spanish army has.”

“Abrams tanks are not the only armored vehicles in Morocco, which also received a lot of Chinese materials, as the kingdom has at least fifty Chinese VT-1 tanks, which are a modified version of the Russian T90 tank,” Bakis explained.

The same expert said that “the situation in artillery is very different,” and explained that “in artillery, Morocco doubles Spain, because Spain has slept in recent years,” and commented by saying: “We are very bad in this sense.”

According to the same source, the Alawite Kingdom possesses in its artillery 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, model M-109, which Spain also possesses with integrated field artillery systems, but in smaller numbers.

“In self-propelled rocket artillery, we have a problem, because Morocco has reinforced itself, especially with a lot of material coming from China, such as MRLS (Multiple Launch Rocket System), armored, multiple-propelled and self-propelled vehicles, and rocket launch systems, which also quadruple the range of Spanish artillery,” he continued.

The Spanish expert offered a possible explanation: Spain did not use artillery in the international missions it participated in in recent decades, and perhaps that is why not much attention was paid to it.

Regarding mobile ground forces, the arrival of the Apaches to the Moroccan army will cover the shortfall it will suffer regarding the capabilities of the Spanish Tiger helicopters.

Paquis concluded that Spain and Morocco would be very equal in terms of ground forces, although Morocco had advantages in very important points such as armored cars.

In contrast, the Spanish expert pointed out that “the balance on the ground will become unbalanced in the air, and especially at sea, and in both cases in favor of Spain.”

The professor from the University of Barcelona explained that “the air superiority that Spain enjoyed against Morocco was very large, but the F-16 aircraft, equipped with very good radars and missiles, partially covered this difference.”

“Morocco has 23 well-equipped F-16 aircraft, and plans to integrate 25 more,” Bakis noted.

The important thing is that “although it was not even possible to discuss Spanish air superiority a few years ago, the F-16s that Morocco bought from the United States bring this superiority into question,” says the same spokesman.

“At sea, the difference is huge,” Bakis concluded, adding: “It is true that Morocco has taken steps to acquire a real naval force on the high seas that goes beyond monitoring its coasts.”