The U.S. State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Morocco of twenty five (25) M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation System (HERCULES) vehicles and/or M88A1 long supply HERCULES refurbished vehicles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $239.35 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced. The principal contractor of the sale will be BAE Systems in York, Pennsylvania. The DSCA delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on March 3.
Also included in the sales package are 25 export Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS); 25 AN/PSN-13A Defense Advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) Receiver (DAGR) with Selective-Availability/Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM); 30 AN/VAS-5B Driver Vision Enhancer (DVE) kits; 25 M239 or M250 smoke grenade launchers; 1,800 M76 (G826) or L8A1/L8A3 (G815) smoke grenade rounds; spare parts; support equipment; depot level support; Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE); repair parts; communication support equipment; communication equipment integration; tools and test equipment; training; training simulators; repair and return program; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; Technical Assistance Field Team (TAFT); and other related elements of logistics and program support.
The proposed sale will improve Morocco’s capability to meet current and future combat vehicle recovery requirements. Morocco will use the enhanced capability to enable armored forces training to strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threats. Morocco intends to use these defense articles and services to modernize its armed forces by updating their combat vehicle recovery capability in pace with their armored unit upgrades. Morocco will have no difficulty absorbing these vehicles into its armed forces. The Royal Moroccan Army already has M88A1 armored recovery vehicles (ARVs) in its service.
The M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation System (HERCULES) improved Recovery Vehicle is the recovery system of choice for today’s 70-ton combat vehicles. With the lowest acquisition, operational and maintenance cost of any 70-ton capable recovery system, HERCULES answers the need for cost-effective, self-supporting heavy recovery performance. HERCULES features overlay armor protection, ballistic skirts, a longer 35-ton boom, a 140,000-pound (63,504 kg) constant pull main winch with 280 feet of cable, and an auxiliary three-ton winch to aid main winch cable deployment. The M88A2 HERCULES is built and equipped to be the world’s recovery champion.