Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Qatar will buy American McDonnel Douglas F-15 Eagle jet fighters for about $12 billion, Reuters reported.

The agreement was signed on June 14 after a visit to Washington by Qatar’s Minister of State for Defense Khalid Al-Attiyah.

The fighter jets will be built by Boeing and “give Qatar a state of the art capability and increase security cooperation and interoperability between the United States and Qatar,” the U.S. Department of Defense said.

The Qatari Defense Ministry also issued a statement regarding the F-15 deal.

"This agreement underscores the longstanding commitment of the State of Qatar in jointly working with our friends and allies in the United States," al-Attiyah said in the statement.

He also praised the U.S.-Qatar relationship, saying the two countries had "solidified their military cooperation by having fought together side by side for many years now in an effort to eradicate terrorism."

Al-Attiyah called the deal "yet another step in advancing our strategic and cooperative defense relationship with the United States."

This announcement comes after a week of mixed messages from the Trump administration regarding the conflict between Doha and a number of Arab nations.

The sale of U.S. combat aircraft may be seen as a signal of U.S. support for Qatar as it faces regional isolation and the severing of travel and trade links.

In November last year, the United States approved possible sale of up to 72 F-15QA aircraft to Qatar for $21.1 billion. Boeing Co is the prime contractor on the fighter jet sale to the Middle East nation.

McDonnel Douglas F-15 Eagle is an all-weather tactical fighter of the fourth generation, developed by McDonnell Douglas in the first half of the 1970s. A total of about 1,200 units of different modifications were made since that time.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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