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Defence & Security News - Morocco
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| General Dynamics to convert 150 Moroccan M1A1 MBTs to the Situational Awareness configuration | |||
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General Dynamics Land Systems has been awarded a $358,000,000 foreign military sales contract for conversion of 150 M1A1 main battle tanks of the Royal Moroccan Army to the M1A1 situational awareness configuration, the US Department of Defense announced yesterday Sept. 28, 2015.
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 M1A1 Abrams main battle tank in Situational Awareness (SA) configuration |
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Work will be performed in Lima, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2018, the US DoD said. More than 220 M1A1 MBTs are currently in use in the Royal Moroccan Army. Among them, 150 are to be upgraded with the situational awareness (SA) kit.
The RMA's M1A1s will be configured with armor upgrades and additional mission-critical technologies to bolster crew situational awareness (SA). The SA package include second-generation Forward-Looking Infrared, Far Target Locate, Blue Force Tracking (BFT)/Force Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), a tank-infantry phone, a .50 caliber thermal sight, a power distribution box, a rear slave receptacle, an eye-safe laser rangefinder, and driver’s vision enhancement. This situational awareness package increases the M1A1 Abrams tank’s fighting capability by providing soldiers an electronic graphic of the battlefield with icons for friendly and enemy forces, and increases the accuracy of the tank commander’s .50 caliber machine gun. In June 2012, the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco had requested a possible enhancement and refurbishment of 200 M1A1 Abrams tanks, provided as part of a grant Excess Defense Article (EDA) transfer notified to Congress on 27 April 2011, to the M1A1 Special Armor (SA) configuration, for a total estimated amount of $1.015 bn. |
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