1,400 U.S. Marines in Agadir in April for Exercise African Lion.

For this exercise, the 2,500 officers Moroccan and American troops will land more than 200 vehicles transported in parts to the port of Agadir on board American ships. They will then assemble all these vehicles with their weapons, moving to sites 300 kilometers from Agadir where exercises will take place before returning to the starting point where they will disassemble the equipmentfor re-embarkation on board. This has to be completed in no more than 24 hours, the Moroccan daily newspaper Les Echos reports.
 

According to a statement from the staff of Africa Lion, the other novelty of this year, at least for the Moroccan forces,  is the first use of long-range missiles that can reach targets more than 60 kilometers away accurately .

During  Exercise African Lion a team of  Moroccan and American military doctors will undertake medical consultations for the populations of villages and douars who will be on the itinerary. The maneuvers will be conducted in April 2013 from a HQ based in Agadir and led by Colonel Brahimf Hassani on the Moroccan side, and Colonel Garay for the U.S. forces.

African Lion is an annual joint US and Moroccan sponsored exercise designed to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation's tactics, techniques and procedures. Initially started in the 1990s as a biennial US European Command (EUCOM) sponsored exercise conducted by US Army personnel in cooperation with the Moroccan Armed Forces, the exercise was eventually  moved to  Marine Corps leadership and became an annual event. Following the establishment of US Africa Command (AFRICOM) in 2008, Africom assumed sponsorship of African Lion.

With the French armed forces  intervention in Mali and the deployment of 100 US troops and drones to Niger announced by President Barack Obama  this years Exercise  Africa Lion  has added  significance.