TSAMTO, April 12. Britain has confirmed that it plans to establish a joint unit with Qatar to operate BAE Systems ' Hawk AJT advanced training aircraft as part of an expanded military cooperation agreement signed by the two countries on April 1.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace and his Qatari counterpart Khaled bin Mohammed al-Attiyah on April 1 announced the expansion of cooperation between the air forces of the two countries. As part of the agreement, RAF Leeming Base in North Yorkshire will be the site of a new British-Qatari training squadron.
The unit, based in Leeming, will operate a variant of the Hawk Mk. 167 (designated T2 in the RAF), recently acquired by the Qatari Air Force in support of the purchase of Typhoon fighters.
The formation of the joint Hawk Squadron, first announced by Khaled bin Mohammed al-Attiyah in October 2020, will provide additional flight hours for RAF pilots and provide international investment in new Leeming Base infrastructure, including the Hawk simulator and refurbishment of existing facilities.
In 2018, the British and Qatari Air Forces have already formed a joint Typhoon fighter unit, which is headquartered in Coningsby in England. Since 2020, joint application and preparation has begun. The task of the unit, which will be deployed in Qatar at the end of 2022, will be to ensure the security of the World Cup. After its completion, the British aircraft will return to the UK in 2023 and will be involved, along with the Typhoons already transferred to Qatar, in continuing the training of Qatari pilots.
As reported by TSAMTO, on September 17, 2017, the British and Qatari defense ministers signed an agreement of intent for the purchase of 24 Typhoon fighters by Qatar, including an option for the supply of 6 Hawk AJT TCBMs. On December 10, 2017, the Qatari government signed a contract with BAE Systems worth about 5 billion pounds (about 6.9 billion dollars) for the supply of fighters, an accompanying equipment maintenance package and training of personnel.
According to BAE Systems, a change was made to the contract, according to which the Qatari Air Force will receive 9 Hawk AJT TCBMs instead of six. Accordingly, changes were made to the initial support package. Earlier it was reported that the delivery of the first aircraft "Hawk AJT" is expected in 2021. Delivery of the first Typhoon fighter is scheduled for 2022.
In addition to the joint Hawk and Typhoon squadrons, the United Kingdom and Qatar will also jointly use one of the RAF's A-330 MultiRole Tanker Transport refueling vehicles over the next two years to train Qatari air refueling pilots. The UK has previously announced that it will support the purchase of the A-330 MRTT aircraft for Qatar.
In addition to the Hawk and Typhoon, in the coming years, the Qatari Air Force will also receive 36 new Rafale fighters from Dassault and up to 48 F-15QA (Qatar Advanced) from Boeing (36 aircraft have been officially ordered, although the US Defense Ministry has repeatedly mentioned the purchase of 48 units in recent months). To meet pilot training requirements, the Qatari Air Force has contracted to purchase 24 PC-21 Pilatus TCBMs and an unnamed number of Super Mushshak TCBMs in Pakistan.