Qatar to buy 24 fighters worth $8bn from UK | World Defense

Qatar to buy 24 fighters worth $8bn from UK

Hithchiker

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https://www.dawn.com/news/1375859/qatar-to-buy-24-fighters-worth-8bn-from-uk
DOHA: Qatar signed a multi-billion-dollar deal on Sunday to buy 24 Typhoon fighters from Britain, its second major defence agreement this week, which comes during the worst political crisis in the region for years.

The $8-billion (6.8-billion-euro) deal was signed in Doha by Qatar’s Defence Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah and his British counterpart, Gavin Williamson.

Williamson said it was the biggest order for Typhoons in a decade, and it follows a billion-dollar deal signed by Qatar on December 7 to buy 12 French Dassault Aviation warplanes.

“These formidable jets will boost the Qatari military’s mission to tackle the challenges we both share in the Middle East, supporting stability in the region and delivering security at home,” said the British minister.


The deal also includes an intention for Qatar to buy further military equipment from Britain, namely the purchase of Hawk aircraft.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by the two countries for this Typhoon contract in September. Sunday’s deal comes at a politically sensitive time for both countries.

There are heightened tensions in the Gulf, where a Saudi-led boycott of Qatar is in its seventh month.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2017
 

Khafee

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Qatar to buy Typhoon fighters from BAE
Qatar has signed a $6.6 billion agreement to buy 24 Typhoon fighters, in a deal that includes in-service support and initial training services.
By Richard Tomkins

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Qatar has become the ninth country to order Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft with the signing of a contract for 24 jets.
The contract between Qatar, Britain and BAE Systems was inked Sunday in Doha and is worth more than $6.6 billion.

"It is a great pleasure to sign our biggest export deal for the Typhoon in a decade," British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said at a signing ceremony. "These formidable jets will boost the Qatari military's mission to tackle the challenges we both share in the Middle East, supporting stability in the region and delivering security at home.

"As we proudly fly the flag for our world-leading aerospace sector all over the globe this news is a massive vote of confidence, supporting thousands of British jobs and injecting billions into our economy."

The contract reportedly includes an intention by Qatar to purchase Hawk aircraft from BAE.

The Typhoons, produced under a multi-national partnership by BAE Systems, Airbus and Leonardo, is a twin-engine multi-role aircraft with speed of 1,550 miles per hour at altitude. The aircraft for Qatar will be assembled by BAE Systems and armed with Brimstone and Meteor missiles from MBDA and Raytheon UK's Paveway IV weapons.

The British defense secretary also agreed to a package of training and cooperation between the Royal Air Force and the Qatari air force, according to Britain's Ministry of Defense.

BAE said the contract is subject to financing conditions and Qatar's first payment for the aircraft.

https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/20...yphoon-fighters-from-BAE/9621513010146/?nll=1
 

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Katar will have an effective fighter plane mix with 96 F-15, Rafale and Typhoon.
Brimstone missiles ordered too for Typhoons. We will see them training in Turkey soon.
Published by Tony Osborne in Twitter
 

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A huge military buildup is underway in Qatar. But who will man the systems?
By: Chirine Mouchantaf
15 Dec 2015

BEIRUT – Qatar’s launch of a huge air power buildup has raised a series of questions about the country’s ability to incorporate systems into its military amid a crisis faced with the Gulf nations.

On Sunday, Britain signed a deal with the small Gulf country to supply 24 Typhoon fighters after two consecutive agreements with the U.S. to purchase 36 Boeing F-15QA and France to receive12 additional Dassault Rafale fighters.

One industrial source with knowledge of the matter stressed expanded capabilities provided by the three new jets, noting that “the air force will now have a total of 96 new aircraft, compared to its current Mirage-2000 fleet of a dozen.
“The problem faced here is the lack of Qatari armed forces personnel to operate three top-line fighter types,” he added. “In order to compensate for staffing shortage, Qatar will inevitably have to recruit foreign forces.”

The Gulf country maintains a military force of approximately 27,500 men, including 2,500 from the air force.
“For decades, GCC states have concluded massive arms deals with the U.S. and other leading western countries as a form of premium insurance: the GCC helps keep western defense industry jobs, and in return the West protects the GCC states from external threats,” said Yezid Sayegh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center think tank.

“Recent Qatari arms deals are a classic demonstration of this. Especially by winning U.S approval to sell the Gulf country major weapon systems at the very start of the dispute with its neighbors, Qatar undermined Saudi/UAE claims that it was a hostile power and underlined U.S support, despite Trump’s public statements against it”, he added.

A BAE Systems official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said winning the export contract for the Typhoon “is important for the long-term sustainability of high value manufacturing and engineering jobs in the U.K.”

“Securing this contract enables us to safeguard Typhoon production well into the next decade,” the officiall added.
Last October, BAE Systems announced it was shedding nearly 2,000 jobs across several of its U.K. operations, with the brunt of the cuts coming at Warton where the company makes and assembles Typhoon fighters and Hawk jet trainers.

Pieter Wezeman, a Senior Researcher on the arms and military expenditure program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), described Qatar’s military power buildup as a “complete transformation from a very small armed forces — as expected from a small country — to armed forces which will be in size and technology amongst the largest and most capable per capita of any country in the world.”

“In terms of deliveries, Qatar has gone from a minor arms importer before 2014 to a significant one in the years since, and based on a series of major contracts signed over the past two years, it is expected that its arms imports will be even higher in the coming years,” Wezeman added.

SIPRI estimates that Qatari arms imports rose by 245 percent between 2007 and 2011; furthermore, 2012–2016 as part of a program that will multiply its military assets several times. However, Qatar is a small country and its arms imports remain substantially lower than those of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to the institute.

On the potential difficulties that Qatar may face, the senior researcher said “the balance between official Qatari citizens and expatriates, and the very high speed with which the country is ordering highly advanced weapons, it remains to be seen how it will be able to absorb these weapons into an effective force and how much they will be dependent on foreign support, including mercenaries.”


https://www.defensenews.com/global/...15.17&utm_term=Editorial - Daily News Roundup
 

Khafee

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Doha and its arms purchase policy
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
Monday 18 December 2017

Qatar’s latest military deals, given the country’s size and population, are enough to protect a nation 10 times its size.

Since the dispute started, Qatar has purchased many weapons, including 24 British Typhoon fighter jets, US F-15 fighter jets worth $12 billion, 24 French Rafale fighter jets, seven navy ships from Italy worth $6 billion, 62 German tanks worth €2 billion ($2.35 billion), and other military equipment from Turkey worth $2 billion.

Most of these deals were made with the political goal of winning the support of major states against the four Arab states that have severed ties with Qatar — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, and Bahrain.

However, all the deals proved futile in ending the quadripartite measures and, at a political level, they only won Qatar a few statements urging reconciliation and ending the rift, which fell on deaf ears.

For Qatar’s misfortune, the weapons it bought will eventually serve the four boycotting states in the Gulf Cooperation Council; they won’t serve Doha much at a military level except in the event of a collective defensive action.

Therefore, Qatar’s hasty purchases and its further accumulation of weapons do not pose a threat to Riyadh and its three partners. On the contrary, Riyadh will find these weapons useful once the Qatari crisis ends during the next four years. Four years is the period for completing weapon production and delivery, and not the remaining years of dispute, which may last another year.

I cannot speculate whether the dispute will end in a friendly or a dramatic manner, but it’s a sure thing that Qatar is the only party affected by the crisis, which is considered a “small problem” for the four states — they won’t be needing Qatar even if the dispute lasted for many years.

Qatar is suffering at all levels. It doesn’t even have enough space to try the fighter jets it purchased, just as its camels do not have enough land to graze, forcing the state to ship them to Kuwait and elsewhere.

Since these arms deals were part of the political solutions, we are tempted to ask: What has the Qatari government achieved so far? Nothing.

Qatar’s investment in Washington was not enough, and it was compelled to sign a security memorandum of understanding with the US, under which it had to give up much of what it used to stall on in the past, including giving the US the right to monitor all of Qatar’s financial activities, which were previously the subject of suspicion and complaint.

Qatar was also obliged to provide the US with information about individuals and organizations from different countries affiliated with Qatar. A number of wanted people were confined while others were exiled on the basis of the US-Qatari MoU.

Qatar’s hasty purchases and its further accumulation of weapons do not pose a threat to Saudi Arabia and its three partners — on the contrary, Riyadh will find these weapons useful once the crisis ends.
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed

Doha had been avoiding all of this in the past, until its crisis with the four Arab states erupted and Qatar had to quickly seek cooperation with the US out of fear that the crisis would expand. In the early days of the crisis, we noticed how the four states embarrassed the Qatari government when they added the US wanted lists in Qatar to their demands.

In the end, Doha’s military deals did not do it much good if they were intending on winning the support of major states to force Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain to end the rift.Qatar’s ships continue to carry its camels to graze in Kuwait, and jets continue to bring cows from the UK and Australia — land borders remain sealed in the face of Qatar.

However, if the purpose of all the military deals were to protect Qatar, the problem and its expectations would be simple. Even if the major states were involved, Qatar’s arms purchases cannot outweigh the capacities of the four Arab states if they, too, decided to bid for interests and benefits.

We also must not forget that major states may postpone implementing decisions, which means time is not in Qatar’s favor. The four states are not suffering any pressure, but rather believe closing the borders and cutting ties with Qatar has stopped Qatar from stirring up troubles inside any of them.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1211181
 

Khafee

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Defence Minister reveals new RAF Squadron at Qatar event
The number plate of a new Typhoon squadron set to integrate Qatari personnel was revealed by Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin at a reception to celebrate the country’s national day in London today.

Published 14 December 2017

From:Ministry of Defence and Harriett Baldwin MP


Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was in Doha last weekend, where he agreed a package of training and co-operation between the British and Qatari Air Forces which will see them working together more regularly as part of the multi-billion pound deal to supply the country with 24 Typhoon aircraft.

Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin expanded on that agreement at a State of Qatar National Day reception in London today. She revealed that a new UK-based Typhoon joint squadron will be called No. 12 squadron, and that it will temporarily integrate Qatari personnel, including pilots and ground-crew based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.

Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin said:

Qatar proudly becomes the ninth nation to buy the world’s leading multi-role combat aircraft.
The formation of a joint squadron means our RAF will take the lead in providing training and support to the Qatari Emiri Air Force as it brings the Typhoon into service.​
The Qataris will not be a permanent part of the squadron, but will be integrated ahead of the delivery of the Typhoon aircraft. The move will provide the country with valuable joint frontline experience on an RAF Typhoon Squadron and speed up their preparation for when their own jets are delivered.

The UK and Qatar already share a close defence relationship, with a joint-exercise between the Royal Air Force and Qatar Air force just last week seeing Typhoon aircraft fly over the Arabian Peninsula. Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin visited the country at the end of last month, where she met the pilots taking part in the exercise.

The two countries share mutual interests in countering violent extremism, and ensuring stability in the region, and this formation will further reinforce those ties by helping to prevent terrorism from spreading and protecting the prosperity and security of the UK at home. The new 12 squadron is currently operating Tornados, and will transition to the future Typhoon force.

The biggest export deal for the Typhoon project in a decade, valued at around £6 billion and sustaining thousands of UK jobs, Qatar is the ninth country to purchase the Typhoon. This year also saw the first delivered to Oman, whilst the MOD is leading the offer to replace Belgium’s F-16s with the jets and continues to discuss the prospect of a second batch of sales to Saudi Arabia, as it continues to bang the drum for Britain’s world-leading aerospace industry around the world.

Notes to editors
  • Qatar National Day is on Monday 18 December. Today’s reception at The Savoy Hotel on The Strand was hosted to celebrate the occasion.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defence-minister-reveals-new-raf-squadron-at-qatar-event
 
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