Covenant Industries, an Israeli-American defense startup, conducted a live launch of its Anthem cruise missile on August 5, 2026, in the Tan Tan area of southern Morocco during a joint exercise involving the US military and the Moroccan Armed Forces, according to a report by the Jerusalem Post.
Israeli-American startup fires Anthem cruise missile in Morocco in first test at new AMTEC facility
Covenant Industries, an Israeli-American defense startup, conducted a live launch of its Anthem cruise missile on August 5, 2026, in the Tan Tan area of southern Morocco during a joint exercise involving the US military and the Moroccan Armed Forces, according to a report by the Jerusalem Post.
The test marked the operational launch of the Africa Multidomain Training and Experimentation Center (AMTEC), a new facility established under the Abraham Accords through cooperation between Washington and Rabat, intended to serve as a permanent testing ground for advanced warfare technologies.
During the exercise, US and Moroccan forces and Covenant engineers set up a temporary launch site in the Sahara Desert dunes and tested the Anthem's communications systems, launch mechanisms, and the collection of communications and climate data in real time.
Covenant was founded in 2024 by Michael Kaufman, an American investor and entrepreneur based in Israel. The company has subsidiaries in Israel and Germany, has no official website, and has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz, according to the report.
The Anthem is designed to be a lower-cost, more easily mass-produced alternative to missiles such as the US Tomahawk while maintaining long-range and precision-strike capabilities. The company is also developing lower-cost interceptors against drones and aircraft swarms.
The Morocco launch was made possible through an initiative by the office of the US Secretary of the Army that allows private technology companies to gain access to US and allied military testing grounds within 30 days. Covenant was reportedly the first company to use the initiative. The test is described as a critical milestone toward serial production, targeted to begin as early as early 2027.
- The source does not state the range, speed, or payload specifications of the Anthem missile.
- The source does not state the total amount raised by Covenant Industries, only that it is 'hundreds of millions of dollars.'
- The source does not state whether the August 5 launch was successful in hitting a target or what performance data were collected.
- The source does not include any statement or comment from Covenant Industries, its founder Michael Kaufman, the US Army, or the Moroccan Armed Forces.
- The source does not name any other companies that have applied for or used the US Secretary of the Army's 30-day testing-access initiative.
- The source does not specify what 'serial production' of the Anthem would entail in terms of quantity or unit cost.
Read the original at The Jerusalem Post