After Inking Similar Deal With Saudi Arabia:

UK Signs Billion-Dollar Arms Deal With Qatar

Date: 17 September 2017 - 21:30

News ID: ۴۴۲۹۶

LONDON (Dispatches) -- The British government and defense giant BAE Systems have agreed a major new deal to supply Qatar with Eurofighter Typhoon jets, despite fears of regional instability.
British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon signed a letter of intent with Qatar on Sunday that will see BAE Systems provide 24 Typhoon jets and support capabilities worth billions of dollars.
The move has shocked observers as it comes only three months after UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on Qatar to do more to clamp down on the funding of militant groups.
The wealthy Persian Gulf state is at the heart of a regional dispute over the funding of terrorism, and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt have since June imposed sanctions on Qatar.
Speaking in Qatar on Sunday, where he met with Qatari defense minister Khalid Bin Muhammad Al Attiyad, Fallon said he hoped the deal would "enhance security within the region."
Human rights groups are likely to be dismayed by the move, which comes as the UK's $16bn military industry is facing intense scrutiny over exports to Saudi Arabia and other states accused of major human rights violations.
The UK has exported more than $6bn in arms to authoritarian states since the summer's general election, with a huge increase in arms exports to Saudi Arabia and exports worth $160m to Qatar.
The deal comes after Middle East Eye revealed the UK has been accused of fanning the flames of the Persian Gulf crisis by arming both sides of the dispute. The accusations were made after it emerged that Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies in a list of countries identified by officials as "priority markets” for the UK's defense industry.
Qatar now joins Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia as operators of the advanced Typhoon jet in the Middle East. The jet has been deployed by the British Royal Air Force over Iraq and Syria in recent years and was also deployed during the 2011 intervention in Libya. Saudi Arabia operates at least 72 of the jets, which have been used over Yemen amid allegations they have contributed to mass civilian casualties.
BAE Systems likely overcame a rival bid from French firm Rafale, which has already supplied jets to Egypt and Qatar in a deal set to be worth billions of dollars. Last year Kuwait signed a deal worth more than $9bn when it purchased 28 Typhoon jets. A defense source said the Qatar purchase would be "at a similar level, perhaps a little less."