Nouaceur: Morocco at the heart of the new Western industrial geopolitics

The construction of the Safran Group's landing gear production plant in Nouaceur constitutes a major strategic turning point in the move upmarket of the Moroccan aeronautical industry. As pointed out by the president of the International Institute of Geopolitical Studies (IIEG), Khaled Hamadé, this project goes far beyond the framework of a simple industrial investment to be part of a profound reconfiguration of global geopolitical balances, today in the midst of change.

Located in the Midparc industrial platform, in the heart of the Nouaceur aeronautical hub, this investment of more than 280 million euros illustrates the consolidation of Morocco's positioning as an industrial hub integrated into high-technology-intensive global value chains. It confirms the gradual transformation of the Kingdom, from an assembly territory towards a production center with high added value, better integrated and more influential.

The production of landing gear systems is not a classic assembly activity. It requires a high level of engineering, extreme precision, rigorous international certification and advanced technological mastery. By welcoming one of the largest landing system manufacturing centers in the world, Morocco is strengthening its national industrial fabric in precision machining, advanced metallurgy and aeronautical maintenance, while consolidating rare and sought-after skills.

With 500 highly qualified jobs at stake and a 100% carbon-free energy supply, the project is fully in line with the national industrial strategy with the requirements of sustainable competitiveness and energy transition. It is not just about producing, but about producing better, within a framework that complies with new international environmental and industrial standards, and is compatible with the most demanding standards.

At the geostrategic level, the IIEG identifies in this project the concretization of the doctrine of “friendshoring”. Faced with growing geopolitical tensions and recurring disruptions in global supply chains, Western powers are now relocating their critical production to politically reliable and geographically close partners. This strategy aims to strengthen industrial resilience without breaking with globalization, but by reorganizing it according to criteria of trust.

Morocco, through its institutional stability, its proximity to Europe and its strategic positioning at the crossroads of Africa and the Mediterranean basin, perfectly embodies this strategic industrial rear base. By establishing a production capacity for new generation landing gear and engines at the gates of Europe, Safran is not outsourcing: it is creating distributed resilience to serve the entire Western aeronautical industry, and therefore its operational continuity.

This industrial choice reflects a logic of securing value chains in an international context marked by fragmentation and rivalry between great powers. The Kingdom thus becomes an essential link in the global aeronautical value chain, actively participating in Western industrial security and the robustness of critical sectors.

In the medium term, this type of investment is likely to strengthen Morocco's attractiveness among other global equipment manufacturers and consolidate industrial sovereignty in strategic sectors. The Kingdom is thus taking a new step in its ambition to become a benchmark aeronautical platform on an international scale, capable of attracting, producing and exporting value.

In the new fragmented world order, Morocco is transforming its economic geography into geopolitical capital. It no longer suffers from globalization: it now shapes it to its advantage. Through structuring projects like that of Nouaceur, the country affirms its capacity to combine industrial competitiveness, energy transition and strategic positioning, establishing itself as a key player in Western industrial restructuring and a development model for the African continent, sustainably and clearly assumed.