Qatari Deal for Military Jets as the Gulf Crisis Persists

The Qatari and British governments have signed a “statement of intent” for the sale of 24 Eurofighter Typhoon combat jets from British defense group BAE Systems, worth several billion dollars in an attempt to bolster the gulf state’s military during the gulf crisis with its four other Arab neighbors. The statement of intent was made on September 17^th, and would be the first major defense contract between the UK and Qatar.

The British Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the deal with their “strategic partner” has taken several years to negotiate. The ministry also stated that this deal would hope to enhance security within the region across all their gulf allies. This deal also is expected to support 40,000 jobs in Britain.

The fighter jets deal is a joint project between BAE Systems, France’s Airbus, and Italy’s Finmeccanica. The statement did not give the cost of the combat jet deal. However, in 2014 BAE agreed to supply Saudi Arabia with 72 Typhoon jets for $6 billion dollars.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt broke off ties with Qatar on June 5th, accusing the state of supporting terrorist  organizations and attempting to destabilize the region. They have launched an economic boycott stopping Qatar airways fights from using their airspace, closing off the land border with Saudi Arabia, and blocking its shipments from their ports.

The four Arab nations set a list of 13 demands.  Some of these demands include limiting diplomatic ties to Iran, shutting down the state-funded Al-Jazeera news network, severing ties to all terrorist organization, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah, shutting down the Turkish military base, handing over terrorist figures, and aligning its foreign and defense policy with that of its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member states.

Qatar has continued to deny its close relationship with Iran as well as funding terror organizations.

Qatar is a relatively small nation of about 2.3 million located on the Arabian Peninsula into the Persian Gulf. It has the highest per capita income in the world due to its extensive natural gas reserves. Qatar’s own military is relatively small for the region, the army is estimated to be around 12,000 troops.

Shortly after the Gulf crisis began, on June 14^th the United States approved a $12 billion-dollar deal with Qatar  to sell F-15 fighter jets, even though President Trump has accused the nation of supporting terrorism and sided with the Saudi-led bloc. Earlier in November of 2016 under the Obama administration there was a $21.1 billion dollar deal  already in the works, and the current deal under the Trump administration added to the number of jets in production. The previous deal approved the possible sale of up to 72 F-15 aircrafts.

The Qatari air force is estimated to only contain 12 operational jets and their air force consists of 1,500 individuals. The number of jets under the deals of the British and Americans raise questions about Qatar’s intentions. Both deals have been under work for years, but the timing of the announcements are clearly intended to send a message regarding Qatar’s relationship with the western posters.

The Qatari government’s fighter jet buying spree is best understood in the context of Qatari efforts to bolster support from western powers during the blockade.

The gulf crisis between Qatar and its neighbors came to the fore beginning in 2011 during the Arab Spring, as Qatar and its neighbors found themselves on different sides of various Islamist-led uprisings in the region. In particular the UAE began to blame Qatar for backing the Muslim Brotherhood, which the UAE alleged was in engaged in subversive activities. In 2013 Qatar was accused of breaching the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) security agreement of failing to commit to promises of not interfering in the internal affairs of the fellow GCC states and of harboring hostile media, referring to Al-Jazeera.

In March of 2014, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain suspended diplomatic ties with Qatar due to their support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Later in November of 2014, after 8 months of tension and frozen relations with Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain, agreed to return their ambassadors, ending the suspension of diplomatic ties.

The British have been attempting to mediate the crisis with Kuwait. Foreign Secretary of England, Boris Johnson, in a statement said that “the security of the gulf is our security” and that the British will remain deeply committed to the stability of the entire region.  The United States on the other hand is split with how to align.

President Trump has previously declared that the blockade “hard but necessary,”  and overtly criticized Qatar for its role in terror finance, but other Trump administration officials have sent mixed messages, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson is perceived as having sided with Qatar, a country with which he has a long history of cooperation during his time as CEO of ExxonMobil.

Although the crisis is unlikely to lead to an armed conflict, the United States needs to keep an eye on the increase in Qatar’s military deal making.

Another factor to consider is that Qatar is  home to the largest U.S. military base in the region. Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base,  is a crucial staging ground for U.S. operations in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and is one of several American military outposts across the Gulf that are intended to serve as a bulwark against Iran but now put Washington in a delicate balancing act.

The base is home to an estimated 11,000 U.S. Military personnel and was built in the 1990s. Qatar invested over $1 billion to construct the base, in an attempt to facilitate a deeper cooperation with U.S. military.

As the Qatar-Gulf crisis persists, it is unclear how the blockade will be resolved.

United States and the United Kingdom, have chosen to tread lightly with Qatar, largely due to Qatar’s role in the energy market and its perceived importance as a military staging ground for counterterrorism efforts.

Qatar’s arms deal diplomacy must not be allowed to distract from the central issue. Trump Administration officials need to stand behind the president’s decision that Qatar must alter its behavior. Both the U.S. and its Western allies, including Britain, ultimately cannot tolerate Qatar’s support for terrorism, and its intentional destabilization of the Middle East/North Africa region.