RUSSIA AND ALGERIA WILL HOLD JOINT MILITARY MANEUVERS

 

Russian and Algerian military forces will hold joint transported maneuvers in the border region with Morocco, according to "Menadefense", a media specialized in Defense whose sources are usually well informed.

It is expected that this joint military exercise will take place next November in the Hammagir area, belonging to the province of Bechar, in the southwest of the country.

This will be the second time that this type of operation will take place, after the first exercise carried out in 2021 in North Ossetia, belonging to the Russian federation; and in a certain way it will break the traditional historical position of Algiers of not allowing the presence of foreign troops in its territory. Its justification would be based on the fact that it is not a permanent presence, as is the case in Syria, but for the limited time of some maneuvers.

Algeria has considerably increased its dependence on Russian weapons, which according to estimates by European military experts would exceed 95 percent of its equipment. The most recent material received by Algiers is the S-350 anti-missile defense systems, with more advanced technology than the S-300 that were presented during the military parade held on July 5 to mark the 60th anniversary of its independence.

It is taken for granted that, in practice, this military alliance has to do with the existing tension with Morocco, which has been growing since Algiers broke diplomatic relations with the neighboring country. Algiers is concerned about the military cooperation established by Morocco with Israel, which in the opinion of the Algerian pro-government press is preparing to build a manufacturing plant for attack drones in a region bordering Algeria.

It is evident that Algiers and Rabat play the card of being the main military power in the Maghreb and, consequently, this distances them more and more and leads them, in the case of Algeria, to seek assistance from Russia and China, and in the case of from Morocco to request the same from the United States and Israel.

With China, the Algerians are gradually increasing their military cooperation and assistance. The last contract established for this purpose corresponds to the delivery of a package made up of six corvettes of the C-056 type with the latest technology.

The Chinese ships are armed with four missile tubes with a range of 250 km. and a speed of Mach-2. In addition, they have a Chinese radar, model C28A, with a range of 250 km in passive mode, capable of covering 150 air and sea targets.