Morocco’s Royal Air Force is set to receive F-16 Block 72 training systems and contractor logistics support under a contract awarded to CAE Inc. with a potential value of up to $42.1 million, according to the U.S. Department of Defense’s daily contracts release.
The contract includes two F-16 full-mission trainer systems. Each system includes instructor-operator stations, an F-16 Block 72 cockpit, a visual display system, a computational system, a power distribution system, a joint helmet-mounted cueing system, an uninterruptible power supply, a central file server, and spares and support equipment.
Work will be performed in Arlington, Texas, and at Sidi Slimane Airbase in Morocco, and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2029. The contract is part of the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, through which Morocco has been a buyer of American military hardware for years.
Of the $42.1 million total, $37.98 million in Foreign Military Sales funds were obligated at award. The contract is being overseen by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Agile Combat Support Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, which serves as the contracting activity.
One fact worth noting is that this is not CAE’s first F-16 training award to Morocco. The country is already listed on CAE’s F-16 training product line’s page of active programs, which also includes Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Taiwan and Turkey. This means that this award refers to a new program being started under an existing relationship, rather than a completely new one.
The base where the equipment is to be installed also has a long history of use by foreign air forces. Sidi Slimane, known as the Fifth Royal Air Force Base of Morocco, was originally constructed in 1951 as a U.S. Strategic Air Command airbase and hosted American units of B-47 bombers during the Cold War.
The United States later withdrew from the base, transferring it to Moroccan control in 1963, where it has been operated by the Royal Moroccan Air Force since.
The deal comes against a wider backdrop of increased Moroccan defense spending. Morocco’s 2026 defense budget stood at 73 billion dirhams, or roughly $7.3 billion, equal to around 4 percent of GDP and 3.3 billion dirhams higher than in 2025, according to confirmed figures from Defense Minister Abdellatif Loudyi.
The ministry has stated that the increase will support personnel expansion, military investment and industry development within the armed forces.
The award comes amid Morocco’s continued expansion of its F-16 fleet and broader partnership with American defense suppliers. The Royal Moroccan Air Force has purchased 24 new F-16V “Viper” jets, the latest variant of the aircraft, and is separately upgrading its existing fleet to that configuration.
In November, Northrop Grumman won a $303.6 million contract to provide F-16 radar repair and support services to Morocco and seven other countries, a sale in which Morocco was the only African nation included in that Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
Flight simulators of the type covered by this contract enable pilots to train using the same cockpit layout, avionics and mission systems as their actual aircraft, without incurring the expense and hardware wear associated with flight hours.
This is common practice among air forces operating modern fighter jets such as the F-16 Block 72, allowing pilots to train for missions and scenarios while reducing reliance on actual flight time.
