RAF jets to guard Qatar World Cup
THE RAF will patrol the skies above Qatar during the World Cup to protect tourists from terrorists, the country’s deputy prime minister announced yesterday.
British airmen operating with Qataris will fly Typhoon fighter jets during the 2022 tournament, said Dr Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah, who is also defence minister.
The mission would be carried out by a new joint operational squadron which will see the UK and Qatar combat terrorism together in the strongest cooperation in decades.
The minister also declared his country had poured millions into the UK since Britain voted to leave the EU and their relationship would only improve postBrexit in a boost for the UK.
His comments were made in a briefing in London following crunch talks with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. He said: ‘Britain has at never this level had since such the cooperation 1940s. Today we have a common enemy. We don’t want the burden to lie only on our friends’ shoulder. We have to take responsibility too so this is why we have this joint squadron. ‘At the same time they will be protecting our skies during the 2022 World Cup. This is the purpose behind having an operational joint squadron. They will be flying with us to protect the sky against any terrorist act.’
Last month Qatar signed a deal to buy 24 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from the UK in a £6billion boost for post-Brexit Britain.
The new Typhoons will join with RAF Typhoons to make up a squadron of jets that will be based mainly in the UK but also in Qatar in the coming years, he said. Dr Al Attiyah said his Arab country was battling threats from terrorists all over the region and had relied on Western help for too long.
The former fighter pilot said Qatar was prepared to step up the fight. ‘Every time a crisis happens in our region we pick up the phone and we call 911 or SOS,’ he said. ‘I think it is about time that we work hand in hand with our friend and ally to defend our country.’
He added: ‘ This is an unconventional enemy, you don’t know where they will hit, when they will hit, where they will hit.’
He said his country was building a ‘brand new base’ for the squadron of Typhoons, which he hoped would be ready for operations ‘very soon’.
The details were still being worked out by officials from the two nations, but he said pilots from both would fly together and the Qataris would learn from the RAF’s expertise.
When the squadron is in Qatar, a Qatari pilot would be in command, and when the squadron is in the UK, it would be under British command, he said. He even suggested the Qataris could help defend British skies in the future.
‘Even the Qataris will protect if anything happens, God forbid, here, because they will also be based here,’ he said.
Asked about Britain’s future outside the EU, he said: ‘The amount of sovereign investment in the UK shows you how reliable the economic system is here.
‘Nobody has pulled out, nobody has panicked. In fact, in Qatar we have increased the investment with our colleagues in the UK. We are building the relationship from better to better.’
RAF sources said any deployment was subject to more detailed planning between the RAF and the Qatari air force. An RAF spokesman said: ‘As part of the UK’s support to Qatar’s £6billion purchase of the Typhoon, a package of training and co-operation has been agreed which will see the air forces working together more regularly.’