Morocco is planning to purchase a submarine for its new naval base in the northern city of Ksar Sghir, reports Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial Digital. Quoting high-ranked officials from the Royal Navy, the newspaper stated that the Kingdom wants «to buy, at least, one submarine for the Ksar Sghir base». Reports on Morocco's future purchase comes, according to El Confidencial, after Rabat reached out Greece, in 2017, for the purchasing of a second-hand Greek submarine. According to the same source, the Moroccan Royal Navy was planning to buy the «old Greek submarine» to «train» crews and get them used to future modern submarines. It is not the first time that reports emerge, indicating that Morocco is willing to purchase submarines. In 2013, Russian news agency Tass, reported that «Russia might offer a non-nuclear submarine to Morocco». The Russian agency stated that the Russian arms export/import agency Rosoboronexport «intends to offer the submarine to Morocco if the tenders are held there», quoting the Rosoboronexport Deputy chief Viktor Komardin. In 2015, Russian news agency Sputnik wrote that «Morocco and Russia are close to reaching a deal on the delivery of a Russian-made Amur-1650 (project 677E) submarine which would be the kingdom's first submarine». For the record, the Ksar Sghir naval base's construction was launched in March 2008 by King Mohammed VI. The new facility is meant to modernize the Royal Navy in terms of equipment and living conditions.
