Small team with a big heart

Qatar’s defence expenditure has been recently estimated to be around 10 per cent of GDP (Qatar enjoyed the highest GDP per capita last year, with the fastest growth), allowing the Emirate to maintain small but professional and well-equipped military forces.

These total about 12,000 people and include an Army, Navy, and Air Force.

The country also has a public security force numbering about 8,000, including an internal security force, a coast guard, marine police and a national fire fighting force.

Qatari security is guaranteed through its own forces, through the Emirate’s active participation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) together with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman) and via a series of defence pacts that have been signed between Qatar and the USA, UK, and France.

Qatar has played an increasingly important and prominent role in collective defence arrangements in the area and is increasingly involved in supporting international operations.

Qatari forces formed a vital element in the ‘coalition of the willing’ and played an important role in the first Gulf War, supporting US-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, hosting CENTCOM’s forward headquarters, and allowing the base at Al Udeid to be used by US, UK and other allied air forces.

The success of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom was founded on the use of Qatari bases, and on Qatari support.

The Qatar Emiri Air Force was formed in 1974 and is commanded by Brigadier General Mubarak Mohammed Al Kumait Al Khayarin.

After expelling the Turks, Qatar’s Emir signed an exclusive agreement with the British in 1916, under which Britain guaranteed Qatar’s protection. The Emirate gained independence on September 3, 1971, after the UK announced its intention of ending its treaty relationships with the Gulf sheikdoms.

A confederation with the seven Trucial Sheikdoms (the present-day United Arab Emirates) and Bahrain was briefly discussed but terms for a Union could not be agreed, and Qatar declared independence as a separate entity.

Qatar’s defence forces were formed with British aid and assistance, with Westland Whirlwinds equipping the Air Wing of the Public Security forces from 1968.

The mainly helicopter-equipped Air Wing received four Hawker Hunters (three single-seater FGA.Mk 78s and a T.Mk 79 two-seat trainer) in 1971. The Hunter was the first jet aircraft and the first combat type to enter Qatari service. The Air Wing became a full air force in 1974.

The UK later delivered three Westland Commando Mk 2A transport helicopters, one Mk 2C VIP aircraft (later donated to Sierra Leone) and eight anti-ship configured, Exocet-armed Commando Mk 3 helicopters for the air force, and three Lynx Helicopters for the Police. The Lynxes had a relatively short career, but some of the Commandos remain in service to this day.

In 1979, Qatar launched a major modernisation and expansion plan, placing orders for six Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets and 14 Mirage F1 multi-role fighters (12 F.1EDA single-seat tactical fighters and two F.1DDA two-seat trainers), which were delivered during 1980-1984. The arrival of the Alpha Jets allowed the retirement of the Hunters in 1982, though one was retained as an instructional airframe. The Alpha Jets were supplemented by the new Mirage F1s from 1983.

Qatar also received a number of Gazelle helicopters – two Westland-built machines delivered to the Police in 1974, and 14 SNIAS-built SA342 aircraft for the air force, delivered from 1978.

The next phase in the growth and modernization of the Qatar Emiri Air Force came in 1987 with the signing of a military co-operation agreement with France. The 1990-91 Gulf War underlined the vulnerability and inadequacy of the Air Force’s facilities at Doha International Airport, and demonstrated the need for facilities to support deployments by allied aircraft. Accordingly Qatar placed infrastructure contracts worth more than $200 million in France, and began construction of a dedicated new military air base and HQ southwest of the capital at Al Udeid, with hardened aircraft shelters, an air defence radar system and Roland surface-to-air missile batteries. The US $1.4 billion base has the longest runway in the region (at 2.8 miles) and can accommodate up to 120 aircraft.

A $1.6 billion contract was also placed in 1994 for nine single-seat Dassault Mirage 2000-5EDA combat aircraft and three two-seat Mirage 2000-5DDA combat trainers, deliveries of which began in December 1997. These aircraft replaced the Mirage F1s, one of which was retained as a gate guard at Doha airport. The remaining 11 Mirage F1EDAs and two two-seat F1DDAs were returned to Dassault in part-exchange, and subsequently sold to Spain for spares recovery.

A major arms deal with Britain in late 1996 was to have included 18 BAe Hawk 100 advanced trainer and light attack aircraft, but this was delayed by falling oil prices and consequent budget reductions, though some still expect an order for six or eight Hawk 100s to be placed.

Though the new air base at Al Udeid has been operational for more than a decade, and though it is officially the air force’s main base, most Qatar Emiri Air Force flying operations actually take place from Doha International Airport, and Al Udeid is principally used by allied air forces. It has become a key lynchpin in the ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United States and Qatar signed an agreement in December 2002, formally allowing the USAF to use Al Udeid. The base’s long runway and ample ramp space made it particularly useful for supporting air-to-air refuelling operations. Al Udeid Air Base is today home to the USAF’s 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, with more than 90 combat and support aircraft, sometimes including aircraft from the UK, Australia, and Singapore.

Thus the Qatar Emiri Air Force and the Qatar Amiri Flight both operate primarily from Doha International Airport, though what will happen when the New Doha International Airport opens remains to be seen. Some expect the existing runway to be retained, perhaps for military and/or business/corporate use, while others expect the air force to move out to Al Udeid, or even to the new airfield being built as part of the Aerospace City at Al Khorr.

The Qatar Emiri Air Force is currently undergoing a new phase of modernisation. With an increasingly outward-looking defence policy, underpinned by a desire to raise its public profile on the international stage, Qatar has begun to equip itself to support international operations, and especially to help with humanitarian and disaster relief missions. Accordingly, in 2008, Qatar ordered C-130J and C-17 transport aircraft, ostensibly with the primary aim of allowing Qatar to provide humanitarian aid around the world.

Qatar was the first Middle Eastern customer for the C-17, signing up for two aircraft (with associated equipment and services, and with two options) on July 21, 2008. The first of these was delivered on August 11, 2009, and the second, wearing a Qatar Airways-type colour scheme, followed on September 10. A Qatari C-17 delivered aid to the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, days after the earthquake there in January 2010, and to Chile in the wake of that nation’s February 27earthquake.

Boeing and the Qatar Emiri Air Force formally celebrated Qatar’s deployment of the C-17 Globemaster III during an Air Force Day ceremony held in March 2010.

Unusually, the Qatari C-17s are effectively based at Al Udeid Air Base, where the operational support and depot maintenance support infrastructure has been established.

The C-17s are to be augmented by four stretched Lockheed C-130J-30 Super Hercules aircraft, ordered under a separate contract valued at $393 million.

The Qatar Emiri Air Force is also revitalising its rotary-wing force and, in July 2008, signed a €260 million contract for 18 long-nosed AgustaWestland AW139 medium twin helicopters to replace the ageing Westland Commandos in the utility, troop transport, search and rescue, border patrol, special forces, law enforcement and homeland security roles. The first (QA60) was delivered to Doha, in January 2010.

The Air Force is currently evaluating new fighters to replace the Mirage 2000, including the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the Boeing F-15E Eagle/Silent Eagle, the Dassault Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. Qatar is believed to be looking for 24-36 aircraft, and a final choice is expected to be made by the end of 2012.