Morocco is negotiating with Israel for LORA ballistic missiles, Israeli sources say – alarm in Spain over the range

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is reportedly close to an initial agreement to sell LORA ballistic missiles to Morocco. According to a report by the Israeli outlet Calcalist on October 8, defence sources describe the negotiations as “serious and at a very advanced stage”. The value of the deal is not known, and neither Rabat nor IAI has officially confirmed a negotiation, a signing or a delivery timetable. LORA was among IAI’s exhibits at the Marrakech air show (October 7–10), where eight Israeli defence companies took part openly for the first time.

The news caused a stir in Spain. The newspaper El Español calculated on October 14 that with a range “between 90 and 430 kilometres”, or up to 500 kilometres in some configurations according to technical estimates, the missile would cover the Canary Islands and cities such as Seville, Ciudad Real and Murcia from Moroccan territory, as well as Oran and Tlemcen in Algeria. The paper calls LORA a “purely offensive capability” for Morocco. The cities are the Spanish newspaper’s own calculation and not an official assessment, and the Spanish government has not reacted publicly.

What LORA is

LORA (Long Range Artillery) is a precision surface-to-surface missile for strikes on command centres, critical infrastructure, radars and defensive positions. According to El Español, it carries a warhead of 400 to 600 kilograms and combines inertial navigation with satellite positioning, with an error margin of about ten metres. The basic version is launched from mobile land launchers or from ships. Launch from an F-16, mentioned in many posts, concerns the air-launched variant Air LORA, which IAI unveiled in June 2024 (as reported by Breaking Defense) and which has been tested from F-16s. There is no indication that the air-launched version is part of the negotiation with Morocco, which is in any case receiving F-16 Block 72 jets.

Morocco has already bought from Israel IAI’s Barak MX air-defence system, Elbit’s PULS precision rocket launchers and, according to foreign reports, an IAI reconnaissance satellite worth about $1 billion, while Moroccan media reported this year the deployment of Rafael’s SPYDER. Israeli defence exports to Morocco since the start of the decade are estimated at more than $2 billion, with Israel the country’s third arms supplier after France and the United States, according to SIPRI. LORA was also demonstrated to the German Navy with two launches over the Pacific a few weeks earlier.

In the background is the arms race with Algeria, which relies on Russian and Chinese weapons and backs the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara dispute. Relations between the two neighbours remain tense, with Algiers arresting 61 Moroccans over alleged sabotage plans. For Madrid, Morocco acquiring ballistic missiles would change the picture in the Strait of Gibraltar, in Ceuta, in Melilla and in the Canary Islands.