Morocco’s First F-16 Block 72 Completes Maiden Test Flight in the US
Morocco’s first F-16 Block 72 fighter has completed its maiden test flight in the United States, Lockheed Martin confirmed, moving the long-delayed program a step closer to delivery. The flight is the first concrete milestone the Royal Moroccan Air Force has had to point to since ordering the jets in 2019.
Photo: A Royal Moroccan Air Force F-16 flies above Morocco during Exercise African Lion. Credit: U.S. Africa Command, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Lockheed Martin said on Tuesday that the aircraft, the first of 25 new-build F-16C/D Block 72 fighters ordered by Morocco, had carried out its first flight as part of the trial campaign that precedes delivery. The manufacturer described the sortie as “a relevant step within the testing program designed to verify the new fighter’s capabilities,” according to Infodefensa, which first reported the test flight. No delivery date was given.
A contract seven years in the making
The US State Department approved Morocco’s purchase of 25 new F-16 Block 72 fighters in March 2019, alongside the modernisation of 23 older F-16s already in Moroccan service, in a package valued at roughly $3.8 billion. The deal also covers 29 engines, including four spares, 26 AN/APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars, Link 16 datalinks, Sniper targeting pods and associated munitions.
Once both the new-build jets and the upgraded aircraft are delivered, Morocco will field a unified 48-aircraft F-16 fleet built around a common AESA-radar architecture — a significant jump in capability for an air force that has relied on a mix of older Block 32 and Block 52 Vipers for the past two decades. DefenceMENA covered the state of that existing fleet in Morocco’s F-16 Fleet Explained.
The Block 72 configuration Morocco selected — the first international customer to do so — differs from the Block 70 variant chosen by some other export customers mainly in its engine: Moroccan jets use the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229, rather than the General Electric F110-GE-129 fitted to Block 70 aircraft. Lockheed Martin has said the Morocco and Taiwan production batches share a “new configuration” that required additional technical adjustments after earlier flight tests, which is part of why the program has taken longer than initially expected to reach this stage.
What Morocco already operates
Morocco’s air force is one of the most heavily American-equipped in Africa. Alongside its existing F-16 fleet, Rabat operates AH-64E Apache attack helicopters — see Why Did Morocco Buy the AH-64E Apache? — and is also pursuing modernisation on the ground side, most recently with a second order of 50 Oshkosh HET A1 tank transporters to support its M1 Abrams fleet, reported by DefenceMENA on 6 October. A broader look at how Rabat balances its suppliers is in How Morocco Balances American, Israeli and Turkish Suppliers.
Morocco’s existing F-16s, roughly two dozen Block 50/52 jets delivered from 2011 onward, have been the backbone of its air-to-air and strike capability, backed by Mirage F1s undergoing their own life-extension work and a transport fleet that recently added its first Airbus C-295, delivered in September. The Block 72 aircraft and the Block 50/52 upgrade will replace that older radar generation with AESA technology across the whole fleet.
Why it matters for Africa
Morocco already fields what is widely regarded as one of the most capable air forces on the continent, and the Block 72 delivery — once it begins — will widen the technological gap with regional rivals at a moment when North African air power is already being closely watched. Algeria has continued to expand its own fleet of Russian-supplied Su-30MKA and reportedly Chinese-origin air defence systems, a rivalry DefenceMENA has tracked in Algeria Reportedly Adds Chinese HQ-17 Air Defence System Amid Morocco Rivalry and How Morocco and Algeria Compare Militarily in 2026.
An AESA-equipped, 48-jet F-16 fleet would also put Morocco in a stronger position to support its own Western Sahara operations and NATO-adjacent exercises such as African Lion, and would reinforce Washington’s position as Rabat’s principal strategic supplier at a time when Morocco has also been diversifying toward Israeli and Turkish systems. For the wider region, the program is a reminder that even well-funded, long-planned fighter deals routinely take the better part of a decade from contract signature to squadron service — a timeline other African air forces eyeing fourth- or fifth-generation fighters should weigh carefully.
Sources
- Infodefensa — “El primer F-16 Block 72 de la Real Fuerza Aérea de Marruecos completa su vuelo de prueba en EEUU”
- Lockheed Martin — F-16 program overview
- DefenceMENA — Morocco’s F-16 Fleet Explained
