By the end of this year, Qatar will complete a deployment process that will have added 96 complex fighter jets to its fleet since the end of the last decade, starting with a dramatic expansion of its air capacity.
The Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) has already completed the arrival of 36 Boeing F-15QA attack aircraft and the same number of Dassault Aviation Rafale.
BAE Systems announced at the end of February that it had delivered 10 Eurofighter Typhoons to Qatar in 2023, with the next 8 delivered last year. Doha’s overall commitment to the Typhoon is 24 aircraft, and shipments will end from BAE’s last moment. meeting in Warton in 2024.
QEAF’s Typhoon configuration, the ECRS Mk0 electronically scanned array active array radar, produced through Leonardo. The assets were assigned to its 1st wing, at Dukhan Air Base.
Qatar commemorates the 50th anniversary of its air force’s official status quo in 2024. During this period, the service also operated the Hawker Hunter, Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, Dassault Mirage F1 and Mirage 2000-5 in a combat role. The last of its Mirage 2000-5s is in the process of taking off.
Doha’s fighter jet investment program is a primary defense expansion that has also allowed the country to already deploy Boeing C-17 strategic airlifts, Lockheed Martin C-130J tactical airlifts, Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, and NH Industries’ NH90 naval and transport helicopters. and BAE Hawk, Leonardo M-346 and Pilatus PC-21 trainers.
So far, its investment has not included ordering assets such as airborne control and precaution systems, maritime patrols and mid-air refueling aircraft.
While there is no indication that there is a festival for the latter, Airbus Defence
Meanwhile, speaking at the three-service exhibit on opening day, the deputy project chief of the U. S. embassy in Qatar, Natalie Baker, noted that the country is lately Washington’s second-largest partner in foreign military sales.
“We will continue to be one of Qatar’s main defence trading partners,” he said.
Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Qatari officials will be in Washington this week for an annual bilateral strategic discussion with their U. S. counterparts, along with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Baker says the talks will focus on topics such as “military and security partnership, industry and investment, artificial intelligence and technology, education, culture, and humanitarian aid. “
“The discussion comes at a critical time in the [Middle East] region, where Qatar is playing a central role in mediation and hostage negotiation efforts” in the standoff between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, he noted.
Qatar’s role as a foreign mediator was also evident at the DIMDEX event, where it hosted an exhibition of the export arm of the Iranian Ministry of Defense and also hosted a delegation from the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan.
A trio of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 fighters departed Greenville, South Carolina, for Bahrain.
The Royal Thai Air Force has unveiled its newest aircraft plan in a new white paper that also suggests a lack of progress on key fighter jet acquisitions.
The U. S. Navy, marking the delivery of the service’s first drone tanker, accepted Boeing’s first MQ-25 Stingray tanker.
The British Ministry of Defence will press ahead with its plan to acquire 14 CH-47 Chinook extended-range transport helicopters from Boeing, after accepting a major price cut from Washington.
Poland has obtained approval from the U. S. State Department for the acquisition of three air-launched weapons with a potential combined price tag of approximately $3. 7 billion.
MBDA won contracts worth 9. 9 billion euros ($10. 8 billion) last year as growing demand for air defense aircraft dominated its business.
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