Morocco intends to purchase a Swiss tank known as Mowag Piranha V, to fill certain gaps in Morocco’s arsenal, according to an article published on Monday on “Defence Web.”
The plan came out after the visit of a high-ranking Swiss delegation led by Guy Parmelin in early October, when it met Morocco’s Minister of Industry, Ryad Mezzour.
The delegation visited Belgian aerospace corporation Sabca’s factory.
In 2021, Sabca secured an agreement with Pilatus to construct the sturdy and powerful Pilatus PC-12 single-engined turboprop aircraft at its Moroccan plant, strengthening the Kingdom’s prominence in the larger, global aerospace supply-chain.
Morocco and Switzerland trade commodities worth $900 million to $1 billion each year. Since the Swiss-developed PC-12 plane is a civilian commercial aircraft, Rabat and Bern have agreed to very few, if any, armament exports.
The two nations’ most recent significant deal goes back to 2005, when Switzerland delivered 40 of its obsolete M109 artillery weapons to Morocco.
The Royal Moroccan Navy’s special forces also employ the Swiss-made Brügger & Thomet MP9 selective-fire submachine gun.