Agence France-Presse,
Qatar said on June 3 it signed a 240-million-euro deal with the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) to boost radar-based protection and safety measures for Qatari airspace.
The contract was signed by EADS and the Qatari military after being announced on May 30 during a visit to Paris by the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
His visit — the first by an Arab head of state since French President Nicolas Sarkozy took office on May 16 — was also marked by Qatar Airways ordering 60 Airbus 350s from the European aircraft manufacturer, an EADS subsidiary.
The 16-billion-dollar (12-billion-euro) deal was the largest contract announced to date for the plane.
The Qatari military said the project, to be carried out over three years, will create a “monitoring network … through placing monitoring stations and advanced technology on the sea, land and air borders of the state of Qatar.”
The network will be linked to “command and control centers at several points by a secure telecommunications system to transmit information and pictures,” a statement said.
The contract will provide Qatar with a complementary security system to protect its “economic resources and development objectives,” it said.
Qatar, a close ally of Washington, hosts two U.S. military bases — As-Sayliyah, which served as the control center during the 2003 Iraq war, and Al-Udeid airbase, which was used by the U.S. Air Force during the 2001 war on Afghanistan and in the aftermath of the Iraq war.
The defense deal was signed amid tensions over neighboring Iran’s nuclear drive, which the West fears could be used to develop atomic weapons, a charge Tehran strongly denies.
The oil-rich Gulf monarchies are seeking to reinforce their armed forces and security systems amid heightened instability in the region.
After Russia and Iran, Qatar has the world’s third-largest gas reserves and is pushing to become the biggest LNG exporter, aspiring to total annual production capacity of 77 million tons in 2010.
A member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Gulf state currently has an OPEC production quota of 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
EADS said last year it was planning to bid in a Saudi Arabian tender for a border security radar system, a project worth an estimated seven billion euros (8.8 billion dollars).
This followed reports that the Saudis had ended negotiations on the project with the French electronics company Thales.
