MARRAKECH: Moroccan Military Industry, a subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems, will begin delivering armored vehicle turrets to the Moroccan army in March 2027, its general manager said, as Rabat pushes to build up its military industry with foreign partners.

Morocco and Israel, which resumed diplomatic ties in 2020, signed a defense cooperation pact in 2021, opening the way for collaboration in air defense, artillery, drones and defense manufacturing.

MMI has a weapons systems facility in the Midparc industrial zone near Casablanca, while ⁠a second plant ⁠in Sidi Yahya, north of Rabat, is being established to manufacture medium and large-calibre ammunition, General Manager Kaduri Naor told Reuters on the sidelines of the Marrakech Air Show.

The company has agreed with Morocco’s defense administration to produce the turrets to be installed ⁠on 8x8 armored vehicles assembled in Morocco by India’s Tata, as well as related ammunition, Naor said.

MMI is developing an anti-drone version of the same turret, targeting a rapidly growing global market as militaries seek lower-cost defenses against unmanned aerial threats, he said.

“The threat is very cheap... defense systems are more expensive,” he said, adding that MMI’s solution was “cost-effective.”

The ammunition for the anti-drone turret will be produced in Morocco, equipped ⁠with ⁠a small radar that is designed to sense an incoming drone and trigger an explosion, dispersing tungsten fragments to destroy the target, he said.

MMI is also planning to produce a self-propelled mortar system that can be mounted on vehicles, he said.

The company hopes to use Morocco as a platform for exports, Naor said. “We will have a European NATO country to export to,” he said, declining to identify the customer.

Naor said 99 percent of MMI’s staff, including engineers, were Moroccan.