| Royal Moroccan Air Force |
The Royal Moroccan Air Force, or Alkowat al malakiya al jawiya, was founded in 1956 when it still was called Sherifan Royal
Aviation. The Air Force's backbone is formed by French built aircraft. The
Air Force consists of four commands. The training command uses the AS202 for
initial training. Further training is done on the T-34C and the CM170. After
graduating, fighter pilots are trained on the Alpha Jet, Transport pilots on
the King Air and Helicopter pilots on the B205, B206 and SA342.
The transport fleet is based at Kénitra in the north and uses the C-130H and
B707 for transport and air-to-air refuelling. The CN235 is also used for
transport and the Falcon 50 and Gulfstream are used for VIP-transport. The
Rabat-Sale based helicopter fleet shows a variety of helicopters. Besides
the SA330 and the CH-47 for transport, the Air Force uses B205, B206 and
SA342 helicopters. Also based at Rabat-Sale is the Maritime Patrol Flight
which uses the Do28 to protect the coastal waters.
The backbone of the Moroccan Air Force is formed by four fighter squadrons,
two with F-5's and two with Mirage F1's. Moroccan fighters can be seen in
Europe occasionally, of which the ODAX 2000 excercise held in France
is an good example. Also, Moroccan fighters are regularly seen in Spain and
Portugal on exchange visits. The F-5 is rather old but funding for upgrading
the type is not available. Also the plans for purchasing Mirage 2000's
have not been realised yet. In 2001, the Moroccan AF bought an unknown number of K8 trainers, which are likely to be based at Marrakech or Meknes. After years of unfruitful efforts by Dassault and the French government to sell the Rafale to Morocco, the government of the latter has decided to go with the F-16. In a formal request to the US Department of Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) the Moroccans plan to buy twenty-four F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft. The F-16s would replace the F-5 and some of the Mirage F1s, which are currently undergoing updates. Following this request another formal request was done to the DSCA for the purchase of twenty-four T-6B to replace the ageing T-37Bs.
The Escadron Aerien Gendarmerie Royal (Royal Police Squadron) uses a variety
of helicopters and is based in several airfields. Most aircraft in the
Moroccan Air Force use civil registers. There is however some confusion
about the way the serials are presented. For instance, CN-RMW is the way a
B737 is serialled, but CNA-OB is used on a C-130. The fighters use numbers
instead of characters.
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| Royal Moroccan Navy (Marine Royale) |
| In 2004, the Royal Moroccan Navy (Marine Royal) has commenced operations with its recently-acquired three AS565MB Panthers. The first aviation assets to serve with the North African country's newly-established naval air arm. An unspecified number of panthers will be assigned to the navy's two Floréal-class frigates (ships: Mohammed V and Hassan II). The helicopters, equipped to the same standard as French Navy Panthers, also have radar and a forward-looking infra-red pod system for surface surveillance.
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Photo: Chris Schmidt 
Photo: Peter Duijndam
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More...
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You can find more about Royal Moroccan Air Power on these pages. On the Order of Battle page we show you where the
main bases are. A map of Morocco is available. Click on an airbase to see what's there to be found. Also we present links to
Microsoft's Expediamaps services: with each airbase you can find a link to a map of the airbases' neighbourhood .
Order of Battle
The Database
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