The “African Lion 2026” military exercises, which conclude Friday, hosted for the first time a specialized drone academics program focused on the use of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) in warfare and military operations, in a move that also paves the way for the creation of a permanent regional drone training center in Morocco in partnership with the United States.
According to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), the inaugural training program was held at the Southern Zone Headquarters in Agadir, bringing together more than 20 service members from Morocco, the United States, Ghana, and Nigeria as part of the continent’s largest annual multinational military exercise.
The program represented the first initiative of its kind within African Lion, combining theoretical instruction and operational field training centered on low-cost small unmanned aircraft systems and their use in advanced combat and security scenarios.
AFRICOM described the initiative as a “fusion center of training and technology,” designed to allow participating countries to cooperate on solutions to persistent regional security threats while integrating emerging military technologies into joint operations.
The program was also aligned with the U.S. Army Transformation Initiative, which seeks to accelerate battlefield innovation and expand the operational use of next-generation military technologies, including drones, artificial intelligence and digital systems.
“Our continuous transformation initiative is built on bottom-up innovation,” U.S. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll said in remarks published by the U.S. Army, adding that the academy reflected efforts to place operational capabilities directly in the hands of soldiers and partner forces.
According to the U.S. Army, the drone academics program included two simultaneous courses: an eight-day sUAS planner course and a 10-day sUAS operator course supervised by instructors from the 7th Army Training Command.
The planner course focused on integrating sUAS operations into broader military maneuver strategies, with training covering airspace deconfliction, multidomain integration, strike capabilities, intelligence coordination, surveillance synchronization, counter-UAS systems and electronic warfare.
Meanwhile, the operator course trained participants on mission planning, tactical drone operations, battery management, aerodynamics, camouflage and concealment, emergency response procedures, night operations and live flight exercises across multiple drone platforms.
The exercises also integrated live drone feeds into the Combined Joint Task Force innovation cell, demonstrating how real-time aerial imagery can support operational decision-making and accelerate what military planners describe as the “kill chain” — the process through which military forces identify, track and engage targets on the battlefield.
U.S. Army General Christopher Donahue said the exercises demonstrated how partner forces are increasingly learning to operate and apply emerging military technologies together in response to evolving security threats across Africa.
The U.S. military also highlighted Morocco’s strategic advantages as a training environment, citing the Kingdom’s open electromagnetic spectrum, uncongested airspace and combat-realistic terrain as factors that make it possible to conduct advanced military exercises difficult to replicate elsewhere.
The organization of the drone academics program comes amid a broader American initiative to establish a regional drone training center in Morocco, reflecting the growing strategic importance of unmanned aerial systems in modern warfare, counterterrorism operations and regional security missions.
Specialized defense reports revealed following the African Land Forces Summit held in Rome in March that Washington plans to launch a broader African drone operator training initiative, with Morocco expected to serve as the primary regional hub for the project.
In this context, General Donahue previously announced plans to support the training of drone operators across the African continent, explaining that part of the initiative would first be implemented through African Lion exercises before transitioning toward a permanent regional center in Morocco.
The American initiative comes as Morocco accelerates efforts to build its own domestic drone industry as part of a broader strategy aimed at strengthening defense autonomy and adapting to the technological transformation of modern warfare.
In recent years, Rabat has expanded partnerships with international defense manufacturers to localize drone production inside the Kingdom, including Turkish company Baykar, which is preparing to launch a drone manufacturing facility in Morocco through its subsidiary Atlas Defense.
Morocco has also strengthened cooperation with Israeli company BlueBird Aero Systems, which has already begun producing “Spy-X” loitering munitions inside the Kingdom, making it one of the first foreign defense firms to initiate local drone manufacturing operations in Morocco.
The developments increasingly position Morocco as an emerging regional platform for military innovation, drone warfare training and advanced defense manufacturing amid expanding strategic military cooperation between Rabat and Washington under the framework of African Lion.
