Qatar’s military, which has acquired a host of manned weapon systems from the United States and other countries in recent years, wants to add unmanned technology to its arsenal.
Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah, Qatar’s defense minister, said at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., Jan. 29 that unmanned systems “are the future” and that he believes the U.S.-developed F-35 Lightning II, whose prime contractor is Lockheed Martin [LMT], will be the last manned fighter.
“This is, I think, the right time for us to reach out and look for this technology from now and try to do some partnerships,” Al Attiyah said. “So when it comes, we are at the edge.”
Al Attiyah said that opportunities exist for U.S.-Qatari cooperation in this area, but he declined to elaborate.
In a long-term effort to boost its military capabilities, Qatar has already purchased AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, C-17 transport planes and Patriot missile defense systems from the United States.
Al Attiyah said the C-17s have proven useful in conducting counter-terrorism operations and in circumventing a blockade imposed by its neighbors last year.
More arms sales are in the works. In February, the Air Force awarded Raytheon [RTN] a $1.1-billion contract to give Qatar a missile-warning radar. And, in December, the Pentagon announced that Boeing [BA] received a $6.2 billion contract to build 36 F-15QAs for the Qatar Emiri Air Force by the end of 2022 (Defense Daily, Jan. 2).
Qatar has also been buying European-made fighters: the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Dassault Rafale.
In other comments, Al Attiyah confirmed that Qatar is exploring the possible purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system to secure its airspace.
“We are reading about the S-400 and how scary it is,” he said.
While a Qatari arms deal with Russia might raise eyebrows in the United States, Al Attiyah insisted that U.S.-Qatari relations are strong enough to weather any such concerns.