The US Department of War has awarded Lockheed Martin a $31.29 million contract for engineering and technical assistance services covering multiple F-16 programs, with Morocco among ten countries set to benefit under the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) framework.
The contract, announced this August, runs through June 30, 2029, and is designed to support beneficiary nations’ F-16 fleets until they build up their own in-house engineering capacity.
Work will be carried out primarily at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, as well as in the recipient countries themselves.
Besides Morocco, the deal covers Bahrain, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Oman, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey, according to the Pentagon.
For the Royal Armed Forces (FAR), the new award extends an established pipeline of US technical backing for its F-16 fleet, including the deployment of American engineers, technicians and specialists.
It follows a separate $332.6 million contract awarded in July covering the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), which allows Moroccan F-16 pilots to view flight and targeting data directly on their visors and designate targets through head movement.
That contract, which includes spare parts and depot-level repairs for Morocco, runs until July 23, 2032.
The steady drumbeat of US contracts underscores Morocco’s emergence as one of the most active air forces in the region. Rabat has spent the past several years modernizing and expanding its F-16 fleet through successive acquisition, upgrade and sustainment deals with Washington, alongside broader investments in missile defense and precision-strike capabilities, including the recent test of an Israeli-American cruise missile at the Tan-Tan-based AMTEC range.
