IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly:
Qatar and the United States have reached an agreement on the former’s acquisition of a long-range early warning radar, Defence Secretary Ashton Carton announced in Bahrain on 10 December.
“Just this week, we reached an agreement for Qatar to purchase a 5,000 km [range] early warning radar to enhance its missile defences,” Carter said when listing examples of US military co-operation with various Middle East states.
Carter said the plan is for Qatar’s radar to be integrated into a regional air defence network that would mitigate the threat from Iranian ballistic missiles.
“The progress we’ve made in improving ballistic missile defence is also important as Iran continues to test and field such missiles in defiance of the UN Security Council,” he said. “That’s why we are working together to develop a blueprint for a regional ballistic missile defence architecture that would help integrate capabilities across the region, from the Patriot batteries deployed in several countries, to the Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense [THAAD] system in the [United Arab Emirates] UAE, to Qatar’s future early warning radar, and to more systems yet to come.”
