قريبا ستدخل الإبرامز للمغرب هذه الصورة للضباط مغاربة وهم يعاينون تطوير دبابات الإبرامز المغربية وتلقو تكوين خاص في الصيانة
ويقفون على تجهيزات الصيانة الخاصة بالإبرامز لكي يتم الإعداد لستقبالها في المغرب
وهنا معلومات أوفر
Moroccan officials visit ANAD
ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- Lt. Col. Mohcine El Midaoui and Lt. Col. Abdelilah Ben Hlima of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces toured Anniston Army Depot July 19-22.
The visit, arranged by the U.S. Army’s Office of Security Cooperation through the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco, was intended to give the duo an overview of the depot’s capabilities, particularly its ability to overhaul M1 Abrams tanks.
El Midaoui, Ben Hlima and Maj. Rod Erickson, a U.S. Army signal officer assigned to the Moroccan Embassy, told depot leaders Morocco was interested in purchasing overhauled M1 tanks and partnering with the depot to learn to repair the vehicles.
Both were impressed by the facilities in Anniston, particularly the professionalism and dedication to quality they saw in the workforce.
“In each area we saw a very good job and very professional personnel,” said El Midaoui. “The organization is perfect and we hope to have a partnership with Anniston that will be a great benefit to both of us.”
The first day of the visit was a general tour of the depot’s Nichols Industrial Complex, during the remainder of their visit, they were given a more in-depth view of the depot’s various repair and overhaul processes. This included visits to several of the installation’s component repair shops and, at the request of the visitors, a tour of the Small Arms Repair Facility.
Ben Hlima, who has a background in engineering, said their country has an existing repair and overhaul facility for M60 tanks. It is this facility that will likely be converted to repair M1 tanks.
In 2008, Morocco did a survey to see if they could work on Abrams tanks in that facility. The building needs to be upgraded before repair work on the M1 can be performed.
“The good thing about the depot is that we are self-supporting. We don’t have to go somewhere else to get our component work performed,” said Chuck Gunnels, process optimization manager for the depot’s Combat Vehicle Value Stream.
Ben Hlima said his country preferred to use American military vehicles because of their reliability and he preferred them for a practical reason.
“American systems are very reliable, but, more importantly for me, we can be supplied with parts very quickly,” he said.
During a meeting at the close of their visit, the Moroccans met with Depot Commander Col. Timothy Sullivan and other depot leaders to discuss the potential workload and partnership.
Sullivan emphasized the benefits of allowing ANAD to completely overhaul the vehicles " particularly scheduling and quality.
Detailing one recent foreign military sales contract, an agreement for M88 and M113 vehicles that is currently about 60 days ahead of schedule, Sullivan told the group that when ANAD is able to control the program, the installation typically delivers ahead of schedule.
“The folks here at Anniston Army Depot are proud of what they do and work hard to ensure the quality of the vehicles,” said Sullivan. “That quality doesn’t change because of the customer.”
The Moroccan government is currently working with TACOM Life Cycle Management Command, ANAD’s higher headquarters, and the United States Army Security Assistance Command to determine the scope of work and details on when, where and how the overhaul of M1 tanks will be performed for the country.
