Founded 1971 | ||
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Service branches Qatari Emiri Land ForceQatari Emiri NavyQatari Emiri Air Force Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Ghanem bin Shaheen Al-Ghanem | ||
The Qatar Armed Forces are the military forces of Qatar. The country maintains a modest military force of approximately 11,800 men, including an army (8,500), navy (1,800) and air force (1,500). Qatar's defence expenditures were a total of $1.913 billion, about 1.5% of the national GDP, as of 2010 according to the SIPRI. Qatar has recently signed defence pacts with the United States in 2002 and 2013 and with the United Kingdom, as well as with France earlier, in 1994. Qatar plays an active role in the collective defence efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council; the other five members are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, and Oman. The presence of a large American military base in the country provides the country with a guaranteed source of defence and national security. SIPRI states that Qatar's plans to transform and significantly enlarge its armed forces have accelerated in 2014, and in 2010-14 Qatar was the 46th largest arms importer in the world. Orders in 2013 for 62 tanks and 24 self-propelled guns from Germany were followed in 2014 by a number of other contracts, including 24 combat helicopters and 3 AEW aircraft from the USA, and 2 tanker aircraft from Spain.
Contents
History
The armed forces was founded in 1971 after the country gained independence from the United Kingdom.
Qatar took part in the Gulf War of 1991, with a battalion at the Battle of Khafji. It also hosted the 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Doha.
In July 2008, the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency announced Qatar’s official request for logistics support, training, and associated equipment and services. The total value of the support arrangements could be as high as $400 million.
In March 2011, Qatar announced the participation of its Air Force in the enforcement of the Libyan no-fly zone.
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
According to Aljazeera news, in DEC 2016 Qatar deploys 1,000 ground troops to fight in Yemen, Qatar Armed Forces soldiers, backed by 200 armoured vehicles and 30 Apache helicopters, head to Yemen's Maareb province. Around 1,000 soldiers from Qatar's Armed Forces have been deployed to Yemen, as part of the Arab coalition's fight against Houthi rebels. Fighter jets and ground forces from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain also took part in the operation. Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia made their airspace, territorial waters and military bases available to the coalition.
A military intervention was launched by Saudi Arabia in 2015, leading a coalition of nine Middle Eastern countries, to influence the outcome of the Yemeni Civil War. Code-named Operation Decisive Storm (Arabic: عملية عاصفة الحزم `Amaliyyat `Āṣifat al-Ḥazm), the intervention initially consisted of a bombing campaign and later saw a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces into Yemen.
Army
The Qatar Emiri Land Force is the largest branch of the Qatar Armed Forces. Qatar maintains a modest military force of approximately 11,800 men; the army is made of 8,500 men. The lack of sufficient indigenous manpower to staff the army is a continuing problem, Qatari citizens constitute only 30 percent of the army, in which more than twenty nationalities are represented.
Initially outfitted with British weaponry, Qatar shifted much of its procurement to France during the 1980s in response to French efforts to develop closer relations. The tank battalion is equipped with French-built AMX-30 main battle tanks. Other armored vehicles include French AMX-10P APCs and the French VAB, adopted as the standard wheeled combat vehicle. The artillery unit has a few French 155mm self-propelled howitzers. The principal antitank weapons are French Milan and HOT wire-guided missiles.
Qatar had also illicitly acquired a few Stinger shoulder-fired SAMs, possibly from Afghan rebel groups, at a time when the United States was trying to maintain tight controls on Stingers in the Middle East. When Qatar refused to turn over the missiles, the United States Senate in 1988 imposed a ban on the sale of all weapons to Qatar. The ban was repealed in late 1990 when Qatar satisfactorily accounted for its disposition of the Stingers.
Qatari tank battalion fought in the Gulf war in 1991, their AMX-30's took part in the battle of Khafji. Qatari contingent, composed mostly of Pakistani recruits, acquitted itself well during the war.
Qatar signed a contract with the German defence company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) for the delivery of 24 artillery systems PzH 2000 and 62 LEOPARD 2 main battle tanks.
The US DSCA announces that Qatar wants to join its neighbor the UAE, and field 2 medium-range THAAD batteries of its own.
Their request is worth up to $6.5 billion, and includes up to 12 THAAD Launchers, 150 THAAD missiles, 2 THAAD Fire Control and Communications units, 2 AN/TPY-2 THAAD Radars, and 1 Early Warning Radar (EWR). The USA would also sell them the required trucks, generators, electrical power units, trailers, communications equipment, fire unit test & maintenance equipment, system integration and checkout, repair and return, training, and other support.
Tanks and vehicles
Fire Support / Artillery
Small arms
Qatar Emiri Air Force
The Qatar Emiri Air Force was formed in 1974, three years after achieving independence from Great Britain in 1971. Initially equipped with ex-RAF Hawker Hunters, the air force soon began expansion with six Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets in 1979. Fourteen Dassault Mirage F1 were delivered between 1980-84. After the Gulf War, Qatar's air force infrastructure was upgraded by France for $200 million, leading to the order of nine single seat Mirage 2000-5DEA multi-role combat aircraft and three two seat Mirage 2000-5DDA combat trainers in August 1994. Deliveries started in December 1997, and involved the buy back of the remaining 11 Mirage F1s by France that were later sold on to Spain., The current commander of the Qatar Emiri Air Force is Brigadier General Mubarak Mohammed Al Kumait Al Khayarin.
British pilots in Oman remain on duty with the air force, and French specialists are employed in a maintenance capacity. Nevertheless, an increasing number of young Qataris have been trained as pilots and technicians.
Its units include:
As of January 1993, all the air force's aircraft were based at Doha International Airport.
Historical Aircraft
Missiles
Other equipment
Future aircraft
In May 2015, the Air Force signed a deal for 24 Dassault Rafale fighters worth €6.3 billion ($7 billion). This deal makes Qatar the third export customer for the fighter after Egypt and India.
Government of Qatar has signed an agreement with Boeing to buy additional four C-17 Globemaster III airlifters, aimed to support Qatar Armed Forces' (QAF) ongoing airlift requirements.
Navy
Qatar has a small 1,800-man navy, including its marine police force and coastal defence artillery. Since 1990, the Qatari Navy has increased its manpower.
The main navy bases are located in Doha and Halul Island. The commander of the Navy is Commodore Mohammed Nasser al-Mohanadi.
Boats
Auxiliary
Special Maritime Forces
Missiles and Equipment
Future Acquisitions
The patrol boat program calls for the delivery of six patrol boats with the first unit beginning construction in 2012 and being delivered by 2014. Although the proposals for the corvette program are due in the near-term as well, AMI believes that the four corvettes may not begin construction for several more years as Damen/Nakilat may want to gain some experience with the smaller 62-meter patrol boat hulls prior to moving on the larger Sigma hulls. If the QENF wishes to move the corvette program forward to an earlier date, it could start some of the hull blocks at Nakilat and/or at Damen in the Netherlands much earlier.
The Qatar Coast Guard Services placed an order for 17 new fast patrol boast from Turkish company ARES Shipyard. The deal of 17 vessels consists in 10x "ARES 110 Hercules" multi-role patrol craft 117 tons, 5x "ARES 75 Hercules" multi-role patrol craft 58 tons and 2x "ARES 150 Hercules" multi-role patrol craft 245 tons. These Fast Patrol Boats will be constructed using advanced composite materials and are expected to be completed within the next 5 years.
March 31, 2014. Nakilat Damen Shipyards Qatar (NDSQ) and Qatar Armed Forces have signed two MoUs for the construction of seven vessels at Qatar’s premier shipyard ($851 million). The MoUs signed by NDSQ and Qatar Armed Forces concern six 50m-long axe-bow high-speed patrol vessels and one 52m-long diving support vessel for the Qatar Armed Forces. The diving support vessel includes decompression capabilities. A large Integrated Logistic Support package is also mentioned in the MoUs.
June 16, 2016. Qatar has signed a letter of agreement with Italian shipyard Fincantieri to build:
The deal has a worth of €4.9 billion.