Morocco reaches agreement with Spain on new corvette

For many years, the Royal Moroccan Navy has been pondering the question of adding new coast guard vessels to its fleet. The desired object would be an OPV 90 of the Avante1800 design from Navantia in Spain - somewhat smaller than the Avante2200 as recently delivered for Saudi Arabia (Al Jubail class), but also larger than the Avante1400 (OPV 80) as built a few years ago for Venezuela and others. The choice of Navantia also makes sense, as the shipyard is located just outside Morocco on the opposite coast of the Strait of Gibraltar. If only it weren't for the differences with Spain over humanitarian aid for the Polisario in the east of Western Sahara (a territory controlled by Spain until 1975, which Morocco claimed for itself and annexed over a large area) and the disputes over migrants outside the fences of the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the North African coastal strip.

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Now, after three years of negotiations - sometimes more, sometimes less - a window of relative calm has opened and the talks have been finalised and signed, as the Spanish presidential office announced. The model with a length of 90 metres and a displacement of 1,900 tonnes was already offered in Qatar in 2014, but the purchase of four units did not materialise after all. Now it is to be laid down in a single version for security in the shared maritime area of the Strait of Gibraltar. The planned armament includes a 76mm cannon on the forecastle, a vertical launch silo behind it and two quadruple launchers for anti-ship missiles as well as a CIWS on the NH-90 hangar with a crew of 46. If you add up the parts, you get a complete corvette! An agreement has also been reached on the payment of the 130 million euros: The Spanish government approved a loan of 90 million euros. So they get along again - until the next scandal.