The Moroccan-American military cooperation on “management and management of disasters and risks arising from weapons of mass destruction” continues to strengthen the ties of exchange of experiences, enhancing the “effectiveness and readiness” of the Moroccan and American armies, which are continuing their joint military maneuvers, the largest in Africa, in its 19th session, in seven different regions until June 16th.
Today, Sunday, June 11, the Agadir military port of the Kingdom’s 4th Naval Base witnessed the activities and phases of a field exercise that falls within the framework of implementing the “second scenario” programmed within the “African Lion 2023” exercises, in a way that simulates “realistic circumstances of the attack of two drones containing explosive devices on a storage warehouse.” port chemicals.
This exercise made it possible to “test the response of Moroccan technicians from the IED Disarmament, Removal and Detonation Company, and the Nuclear, Radiological, Biological and Chemical Defense Company of the Royal Armed Forces Relief and Rescue Unit, in addition to American experts,” with the aim of “strengthening their capabilities to intervene in facing critical situations.” related to explosive devices and dangerous chemicals.
The topic of the exercise allows, according to the data obtained by Hespress, each of the nuclear-radiological, biological and chemical defense squadron, and the explosive ordnance disposal squadron of the Relief and Rescue Unit of the Royal Moroccan Army, to “intervene to manage an incident involving chemical, radiological and explosive materials.”
The exercise was not devoid of harnessing common means between the American Defense Company against weapons of mass destruction and the Company for neutralizing and detonating explosive devices of the Relief and Rescue Unit from the Moroccan side, with the aim of “evaluating the level of interoperability with the various actors from both sides in the field of chemical and explosive radiological response, as well as testing Coordination and communication between the various stakeholders; As well as the goal of identifying the procedures for analyzing, packing and transporting chemical samples.
exercise scenario
According to what was seen by the electronic newspaper Hespress, the text of the simulation exercise that was carried out under the eyes of senior military officials, including generals from the Moroccan army and its American counterpart, to “implement the attack of two suicide drones (Drone kamikaze) containing an explosive device, targeting warehouses of chemical materials stored in huge units of the port, In addition to the discovery of improvised explosive devices, which caused an explosion and injured dozens of people.
The teams involved in the exercise proceeded to “securing the intervention site” by special forces, before proceeding to “disarming the suicide drones by the explosive ordnance disposal team,” completing “risk assessment, sorting out the victims and regrouping them at the level of a certain point.”
The “explosive ordnance disposal team was also deployed to carry out search and excavation operations, with the discovery of the disaster site and its division into areas,” before “the emergency cleansing of the explosive ordnance disposal team’s interventions after the presence of chemicals, and the deactivation of explosive devices by a specialized team.”
Among the measures taken was “the collection of chemical samples to analyze and determine the nature of the chemicals involved, with the aim of preventing the leakage of chemicals and neutralizing the danger,” while Hespress observed “accelerated technical and collective cleansing operations, in parallel with sorting out the victims and providing them with medical treatment.”
Improve collaborability
Kelly Fenden, on behalf of the US Agency for Defense and Risk Reduction, the representative of AFRICOM, did not hide his happiness at coming to Morocco as part of the joint military exercises, pointing out that the US Defense and Risk Reduction Agency (DTRA) has a long history of joint cooperation with the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces.
“We worked together, jointly, to develop a force to intervene and defend against the most capable and mobile radiological, nuclear and chemical weapons in the region,” the American official stated in a statement to Hespress, and added: “African Lion 2023 reveals Morocco’s ability to spread its regional capabilities in combating this type of Radiate Threats, Evaluate Interoperability, and Deliver Critical Crisis Response to Win on Today’s Modern Battlefield.”
The spokesperson continued: “This year we and the Royal Navy are conducting a major exercise to assess response to a WMD attack crisis. This complex scenario includes an EOD unit, chemical weapons detection using a mobile laboratory, and specialized agents carrying out clearance and decontamination operations using advanced capabilities.”
“Today’s exercise is further evidence of how USAID can work alongside the Moroccan armed forces to improve the viability of joint cooperation between the United States and Morocco for a safer and more peaceful region,” the spokesperson concludes.
Moroccan “strength and sophistication”.
First Lieutenant Houssem Belghazi, deputy commander of the defense company against nuclear-radiological, biological and chemical risks of the “Relief and Rescue Unit” of the Royal Armed Forces, explained that “the Moroccan defense company against nuclear-radiological, biological and chemical risks demonstrated, during this exercise, the extent of its strength and sophistication In this field, by its intervention to reduce the risks resulting from the explosion of two suicide drones that targeted a warehouse for storing chemical materials,” he added, explaining to Hespress: “The presence of improvised explosive devices was defused, with the intervention of the two explosive disposal and removal teams of the Royal Armed Forces and the US Army, using robots. And very advanced equipment.”
The “planning cell” of the aforementioned unit also participated in the exercise, as it was tasked with “collecting, organizing and analyzing the information received from the reconnaissance team, with the aim of using it to determine the necessary security measures and knowing what needs to be done while keeping abreast of new developments, in order to protect the intervening teams and citizens from danger.” after neutralizing it.”
It is worth noting that, last Thursday (June 8th), within the framework of the African Lion maneuvers, and in the presence of Moroccan and American military officials, at the main stadium of the Southern Command in Agadir, the first scenario of “simulating intervention operations against the threat of weapons of mass destruction” was successfully completed, before Completion of the second scenario in the military port of Agadir.