According to information published by the “Israel Defense” website on December 28, 2021, Morocco continues the negotiation with IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) for the acquisition of the Barak 8, a surface-to-air defense missile system.
In November 2021, the Defense Minister of Morocco, Abdellatif Loudiyi was in Israel for an official visit the Israeli defense minister to Rabat, Gantz. During this official trip, Israel and Morocco have signed the memorandum of understanding between the two countries, which formalized the security ties between the two countries and made it easier for them to share intelligence, for the militaries and defense ministries to directly communicate with one another, and for Israel to sell weapons and defensive systems to Morocco.
The Barak 8 is a long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM), jointly developed by the company IAI and the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The missile is designed to destroy aerial threats including aircraft, helicopters, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs as well as ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and combat jets. Both maritime and land-based variants of the system exist.
The Barak 8 missile has a length of about 4.5 meters, a diameter of 0.225 meters at missile body, and 0.54 meters at the booster stage, a wingspan of 0.94 meters and weighs 275 kg including a 60 kg warhead which detonates at proximity. The missile has maximum speed of Mach 3 with a maximum operational range of 70 km.