Qatar has signed several multi-billion dollar deals for purchasing fighter jets and other military equipment since the Qatar crisis started six months ago.
Qatar signed a €6 billion (about $8 billion) deal to purchase 24 Typhoon fighters from the UK , BBC reported Sunday.
Williamson and his Qatari counterpart Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah also signed an agreement for establishing a Joint Operational Squadron between both countries’ air forces, according to a statement by Qatar’s armed forces.
During his visit to Doha on December 7, French President Emmanuel Macron said he agreed on some $14.13 billion deals with Qatar, AP reported.
The deals included the purchase of 12 French-made Rafale fighter jets. Qatar said it would possibly purchase 36 more fighter jets, Reuters reported.
Qatar also agreed to purchase 490 VBCI armored vehicles from French Nexter.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in August that Qatar sealed a deal with Italy worth about $5.9 billion to purchase seven navy vessels, according to Reuters.
Only few days after the Arab quartet boycotted Qatar, Qatar signed a $12billion deal in June to purchase 36 (F-15) jets from the U.S., Bloomberg News reported.
A pentagon agency said in November that the U.S. approved a possible $1.1 billion to service Qatar’s F-15QA fighter aircraft program.
In an interview with Sky News, former Egyptian Ambassador to Qatar Mohammed Al Menessy said that he sought the reason behind Qatar’s keenness to construct Al Udeid Air Base.
According to Menessy, former Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassim bin Jaber told him that the real danger on Qatar comes from its Gulf neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia.
In an interview with TV host Lamees el-Hadidy, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said that the Arab Quartet will not resort to using military force with Qatar, as the Qatari crisis is a “very small problem.”
On June 5, Egypt , Saudi Arabia , the UAE and Bahrain decided to cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar, due to the state’s policies in sponsoring terrorism .
