TSAMTO, December 1. The command of the Armed Forces of Morocco announced on its Facebook page about the purchase of anti-aircraft systems Skylock Dome Israeli production.
As Moroccan military expert Abdel Hamid Harfi told Defense News, some of the systems have already been delivered to the customer. Data on the cost of sale and the number of purchased systems are not disclosed. The contract does not provide for the transfer of technology for the production of equipment in Morocco.
According to the expert, the principle of operation of the system is to disrupt the communication of the UAV with the control point. The system is equipped with optical and thermal imaging detection devices, as well as radar for detecting potential threats.
The Skylock Dome system was developed by Skylock Systems, a division of Avnon Group. The Emirati consortium International Golden Group presented this technology in February as part of the International Defense Exhibition and Conference IDEX 2021. At the same time, officials of the Emirati company said that after the completion of IDEX 2021, the system will be tested in order to study the possibility of purchasing it for the security services, ground forces and the UAE border service.
The message of the Armed Forces of Morocco stated that they are expanding their capabilities to recognize and neutralize threats from UAVs. The report also says that four more unnamed systems were previously purchased to combat UAVs.
According to the Moroccan expert, the acquired Skylock Dome will protect important and sensitive economic, military and government facilities from UAVs. Although the systems may not be very effective against military UAVs with anti-jamming systems, they will provide protection against commercial drones used for surveillance and information gathering.
Thus, attempts to use commercial UAVs for reconnaissance were carried out by the formations of the Polisario Front movement fighting for the independence of Western Sahara. As stated, the armed forces managed to destroy them, but the presence of a specialized UAV counteraction system would significantly facilitate the neutralization of such threats.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited Morocco on November 24. He signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the field of security and defense with his Moroccan counterpart. The visit took place a year after the signing of the so-called "Abraham Agreements", providing for the normalization of relations between a number of Arab countries and Israel.
