Qatar and Russia have signed a memorandum-of-understanding
(MoU) calling for increased military and technical
cooperation.
The MoU was signed by Qatar’s Minister of
State for Defence Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah
and his Russian counterpart Defence Minister
Sergey Shoygu in Doha on Wednesday, October
25.
According to the Gulf Times, the MoU paves
the way for the supply of armaments, including
air defence systems.
Additional specifics were not provided.
In 2017 the Russian defence industry has been
making major inroads in the Arab Gulf and
Middle East.
Its most notable commercial success has been
the Almaz-Antey S-400 Triumf long-range air
defence system, which has been ordered by
Turkey and is now drawing active interest
from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Qatar has charted a significant modernization
roadmap for its armed forces.
Of note are Doha’s plans for the Qatar Emiri
Air Force (QEAF), which has 24 Dassault Rafale
and 36 Boeing F-15QA fighters on order.
In September, Qatar also signed a letter-of-intent
with BAE Systems for 24 Eurofighter Typhoon
multi-role fighters and six Hawk trainer aircraft.
For Qatar, it is worth noting that it is forging
a diverse arms supplier pool.
Besides securing combat aircraft from three
major suppliers (i.e. the U.S., France and
the U.K), it has ordered land and naval systems
from Germany and Italy, respectively.
