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Qatar spends big on American choppers and missiles
The Washington Post ^ | 07/14/2014 | By Thomas Gibbons-Neff

Posted on 07/15/2014 3:49:45 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki

Qatar, the world’s top liquefied natural gas exporter, is using its gas money to cash in on some top-of-the-line U.S. supplied military hardware.

Qatar’s 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.

“Today’s 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 ...


TOPICS: Egypt; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Russia; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: aerospace; airbus; apache; bahrain; boeing; egypt; iran; iraq; israel; jordan; kurdistan; kuwait; lebanon; lng; methane; nh90; opec; patriotmissiles; qatar; raytheon; russia; saudiarabia; syria; unitedarabemirates; waronterror

1 posted on 07/15/2014 3:49:45 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

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.


2 posted on 07/15/2014 3:51:44 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: sukhoi-30mki
All of those Gulf countries are spending LARGE on defense in the past two years.
And it's not just my company - everyone I talk with in the industry says the same thing.
This isn't peace-time buying.
3 posted on 07/15/2014 3:53:24 PM PDT by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: Psalm 73

The Arabs can spend all the money they like. But will they actually stand up and fight the Islamic State when the time comes?


4 posted on 07/15/2014 4:02:18 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Thanks sukhoi-30mki.

> $11 billion worth of Apache attack helicopters, Patriot missile defense batteries and anti-tank Javelin missiles


5 posted on 07/15/2014 4:02:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: sukhoi-30mki
Qatar is a Muslim-majority country with Islam as the state religion. Wahhabi/Salafi version of Sunni Islam is the state sponsored brand of Islam in the country, making Qatar one of the two officially Wahhabi/Salafi states in the Muslim world, along with Saudi Arabia.

From wiki FWIW.

6 posted on 07/15/2014 4:05:34 PM PDT by ex91B10 (We've tried the Soap Box,the Ballot Box and the Jury Box; ONE BOX LEFT!)
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To: ex91B10
Great--and I have a pretty good hunch the US is using our soldiers to train these guys how to use this stuff.

Isn't that just special!

7 posted on 07/15/2014 5:04:43 PM PDT by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement!)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

And yet 0bama wants to take the Apaches away from our states National Guard units.


8 posted on 07/15/2014 5:07:42 PM PDT by BBell (The Blue Dog is Stupid)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

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.


9 posted on 07/15/2014 5:31:10 PM PDT by Vinnie
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