Algeria is spending $25 billion to counter weapons Israel built for Morocco - opinion

Algeria is spending a record $25 billion on its military, a move that constitutes 20.6% of its national budget and nearly 9% of its GDP. This spending, which exceeds Algeria's combined education and health budgets, is financed through a central government deficit surpassing 10% and is largely a response to Morocco's acquisition of Israeli-designed weapons.

Morocco, conversely, has embraced a qualitative modernization strategy, allocating $17.1 billion toward advanced technology and the creation of a domestic defense industry through joint ventures with Israeli firms, including BlueBird Aero Systems. The Spanish parliament has even begun formally calculating whether it can defend against these Israeli-made weapons now produced on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Algeria's defense spending as a share of GDP is now the second-highest in the world, trailing only Ukraine. However, unlike Ukraine, Algeria is not fighting a war; the force it is building exists in direct response to the capabilities Morocco is acquiring, which are substantially Israeli in origin.

On the outskirts of Casablanca, Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary BlueBird Aero Systems inaugurated a production facility for its SpyX loitering munitions, the first such factory in North Africa or the Middle East outside Israel. These man-portable systems feature a 50-kilometer operational radius and are designed for precision strikes against armored vehicles and command posts.