About 20 nations, 27 observer nations, and approximately 8,000 troops are participating in African Lion 2023, U.S. Africa Command’s largest combined annual joint exercise to be held in Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, and Tunisia from May 13 to June 18, 2023.
” African Lion is the centerpiece of the AFRICOM exercise strategy and one of the largest US exercises worldwidesaid Maj. Gen. Joel Tyler, U.S. Africa Command Chief of Staff. These maneuvers are the largest of their kind in Africa.
In Morocco, the African Lion 2023 exercise, organized jointly by the American Army and the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) began on May 22 with a cycle of academic training that will continue until June 2, the start of the maneuvers military. 
The General Staff of the FAR indicates that these trainings will benefit a hundred officers and non-commissioned officers, Moroccans and from partner countries, and will be sanctioned by certificates.
That said, on the ground, the joint multinational exercise of the 19th edition of “African Lion” will take place from June 2 to 16 in seven regions of Morocco. Also it is in this context that Wednesday we witnessed the arrival of American equipment and weapons on Moroccan soil via the port of Agadir. It is the specialized forum FAR-Morocco on its Facebook page which has, so to speak, who spilled the beans.
These maneuvers on Moroccan soil, which will be carried out in the regions of Agadir, Tan-Tan, Tiznit, Kenitra, Benguerir and Tifnit, are part of much larger exercises that include actions in countries such as Ghana, Senegal or Tunisia. They bring together “like-minded countries”, in the words of Major General Joel Tyler, Commander of US Africa Command and Chief of Staff of US Africa Command.
” These exercises aim to improve defensive capacity and collaboration to deal with transnational threats and violent extremist groups, as well as interoperability in crises and operations to strengthen security and stability in the region.“, underlined Morocco. The maneuvers that will take place in the Mahbés region mainly involve the FAR and American forces.
The maneuvers include several joint armed exercises by land, sea and air with airborne assets and special forces. There will also be live-fire exercises with US C-130J Super Hercules, KC-135 Stratotanker and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. But not that, AH-64 Apache helicopters, Abrams SepV3 tanks, M109A7 Paladin howitzers, “Hummers” all-terrain vehicles… from the various participating armies, will be deployed in the southern region of the Kingdom.
The maneuvers also include hybrid civil and military operations such as the elimination of nuclear, radioactive, biological and chemical (NRBC) contaminants, the general command of the Moroccan armed forces reported in April.
The joint operations and manoeuvres, carried out jointly by the FAR and the partner countries, in various operational, land, airborne, air, maritime and CBRN decontamination domains are essentially aimed at developing interoperability and strengthening intervention capabilities within a framework multinational, says a statement from the FAR.
