UK agrees deal to sell 24 Typhoon fighters to Doha despite boycott

The UK has agreed a deal to sell Qatar 24 Typhoon fighter jets

کد خبر: ۷۳۱۲۱۶

تاریخ: ۲۷ شهريور ۱۳۹۶ - ۰۸:۳۷

The UK has agreed a deal to sell Qatar 24 Typhoon fighter jets.

Qatar has seen its diplomatic and trade ties with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut following allegations they funded terrorism and their refusal to close the Aljazeera news channel.

A letter of intent was signed with UK defence group BAE Systems set to supply to warplanes to Doha.

Qatar is the world’s biggest exporters of liquefied natural gas and is the site of the Middle East’s biggest American military base.

QNA news agency reported: "The letter of intent includes the ministry’s intention to purchase 24 modern Typhoon aircraft with all their equipment.”

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) said the deal had been in the pipeline for a long time with talks taking several years.

The Qatar deal was signed between Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon and his counterpart in Doha, Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah.

The MOD said: "This will be the first major defence contract with Qatar, one of the UK’s strategic partners.

"We also hope that this will help enhance security within the region across all Gulf allies.”

Although the cost of the contract has not yet been revealed BAE agreed to a £4.43billion deal to supply Saudi Arabia with 72 Typhoon fighters in 2014

BAE partnered with the French firm Airbus and Italian defence company Finmeccanica on the Eurofighter Typhoon project, which supports up to 40,000 jobs in the UK.

Yesterday’s deal comes just one day after the Defence Secretary told a conference in London the Government would help BAE sell more Typhoons and work to create further deals.

The Typhoon has failed to outperform its French rival with the Dassault Aviation-built Rafale managing to nail down big money deals with Egypt and Qatar.

Qatar agreed on deals to by F-15 built by US firm Boeing for £8.8 billion and a £4.39 billion navy deal with Italy.