A high-ranking Swiss delegation visited Morocco earlier this month. Its members, led by Guy Parmelin, the equivalent of the Swiss Minister of the Economy, met with his counterpart Ryad Mezzour.
Switzerland has a competitive defence industry that could be of interest to Morocco. Rabat has been modernizing its armed forces, notably driven by on-going tensions with Algeria. In particular, the Moroccan Army could be interested in the Mowag Piranha infantry fighting vehicle (IFV). Such a vehicle could adequately replace the decades-old IFVs currently present in the Moroccan forces, which comprise a mix of South African Ratel, French AMX-10P and VAB VCI or even Dutch YPR-765.
Rabat does need a new-generation piece of equipment, which could well be the Piranha, probably built under license if a deal goes ahead. As the Piranha V comes in three variants – IFV with 30 mm cannon, anti-tank with missile launcher and artillery with 120 mm cannon – a single family of platforms would meet the different needs of the Moroccan army.
But such an agreement would have to pass through Switzerland’s arms export controls, which might consider the Western Sahara issue to be a problem, even if this was not the case for the M109s. As Morocco asserts itself as a military, economic and diplomatic power, it is highly likely that exchanges between the two countries will increase, and it is only a matter of time before an export deal is reached between the two countries.