TSAMTO, December 15. The United States and the Netherlands will finance the supply of at least 90 T-72 tanks from the Moroccan Armed Forces to Ukraine in exchange for other equipment.
As a reminder Infodefensa.com under pressure from the United States, Rabat recently agreed to supply military equipment to the Kiev regime. Thus, Morocco will become the first African country to provide this kind of assistance to Ukraine.
Various media outlets report that the assistance involves the supply of spare parts for T-72 tanks. However, according to both Czech and Moroccan sources, Rabat's assistance is much broader. It includes the transfer to Ukraine of the T-72B MBT from the Moroccan Armed Forces, which were originally planned to be upgraded at the facilities of the Czech company Excalibur Army for Rabat.
According to the explanations that Richard Kubena, the company's commercial director, gave to the Novinky news portal.For example, Excalibur Army is currently "focused on a large order for the modernization of up to 120 T-72 MBT, which come from an African country." At the same time, as a result of negotiations with the United States, the EU, as well as the Czech Ministry of Defense, "the final customer has satisfied the request of the above-mentioned countries and considers the agreement reached on the transfer of tanks (in exchange for other equipment) as assistance to the government of Ukraine."
Rabat is not directly quoted in the statement, but specialized sources, such as the Actudefense Maroc Twitter account, claim that R. Kubena is referring specifically to Morocco.
The commercial director of the Czech company explained that the purchase of "African" tanks for shipment to Ukraine is paid for by the United States and the Netherlands under an agreement totaling 2.2 billion rubles. CZK (slightly more than 90 million euros). R. Kubena notes that the first five MBTs will be received next week, and by the end of the year it is planned to prepare 18 units for shipment. In total, 90 "African" T-72 MBTs are expected to be delivered to Ukraine, plus another 30 MBTs as an option, which will be purchased next year.
A little more than 20 years ago, Morocco purchased from Belarus a batch of 136 T-72B battle tanks, including 12 commander T-72BKS and spare parts for them (approx.TSAMTO: delivery of 100 T-72B/BK has been declared to the UN Register).
Historically, Algeria, the main opponent of Morocco, is a long-time ally of Russia, from which it continues to acquire military equipment, and Rabat is a partner of the United States.
If the supply of T-72 tanks to Ukraine does not fail, Morocco, with the help of the United States and the Netherlands, will become the second largest supplier of main battle tanks to Ukraine since the beginning of hostilities. At the moment, Poland is in the lead: more than 230 Polish T-72 MBT have arrived in Ukraine. The Czech Republic has pledged to send about 40 MBT within the framework of an exchange scheme agreed with Germany to replenish its fleet with German tanks and armored personnel carriers, Macedonia – 8 units. In addition, Slovenia supplied 28 M-55C main battle tanks in exchange for 45 German-made MAN 8x8 trucks under an agreement similar to the Czech one.
