Posted on 07/15/2014 3:49:45 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Qatar, the worlds top liquefied natural gas exporter, is using its gas money to cash in on some top-of-the-line U.S. supplied military hardware.
Qatars defense minister, Hamad Bin Ali al-Attiyah, met with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and signed acceptance letters for $11 billion worth of Apache attack helicopters, Patriot missile defense batteries and anti-tank Javelin missiles, the Pentagon said in a statement Monday.
Todays signing ceremony underscores the strong partnership between the United States and Qatar in the area of security and defense and will help improve our bilateral cooperation across a range of military operations, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.
The MIM-104 Patriot is a long-range surface-to-air missile system known primarily for its anti-ballistic missile capabilities, while the FGM-148 Javelin is an anti-tank missile system that also has the ability to engage low-flying helicopters.
In March, Qatar announced it would spend $23 billion to purchase a slew of attack helicopters, mid-air refueling tankers and guided missiles from companies like Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
In addition to its contracts with American defense giants, Qatar has also agree to buy a number of NH90 helicopters from NHIndustries for $2.76 billion. Airbus Eurocopter helicopter unit is the majority shareholder in NHIndustries.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ah, so Qatar is the bag-man, huh.
They’re doing quite a lot of that, lately.
Wonder where this latest stuff will end up, huh.
The Arabs can spend all the money they like. But will they actually stand up and fight the Islamic State when the time comes?
Thanks sukhoi-30mki.
> $11 billion worth of Apache attack helicopters, Patriot missile defense batteries and anti-tank Javelin missiles
From wiki FWIW.
Isn't that just special!
And yet 0bama wants to take the Apaches away from our states National Guard units.
We must be nuts to sell these advanced weapons to any M.E. country except Israel.
They are as likely as not to be used against Israel or us.
Crazy idea.
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