Boeing awarded USD500 million to begin Qatari F-15QA training

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Boeing USD500 million to begin air and ground training of Qatari personnel on the F-15QA combat aircraft.

A computer-generated image of an F-15QA combat aircraft. Boeing has been contracted to begin training pilots and maintainers trained on the platform, ahead of the commencement of deliveries in early 2020. (Qatari Emiri Air Force)

The award, announced on 28 August, will see Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) pilots and maintainers trained on the F-15QA in St Louis, Missouri, through to 2021, after which training will relocate to Qatar and run through to August 2026.

Boeing expects to begin delivering the QEAF’s 36 F-15QAs from early 2020 through to early 2023. Qatar has options for a further 36 aircraft, which would stretch production by a further three years out to 2026 if exercised.

The F-15QA is the Qatari-specific variant of the Advanced Eagle. As with the F-15SA for Saudi Arabia and F-15EX for the US Air Force, it improves on earlier models of the Eagle in that it features two additional underwing weapons stations (increasing the number from 9 to 11); the option of a large-area display cockpit (Saudi Arabia has not taken up this option); fly-by-wire controls; the Raytheon AN/APG-82(V)1 or AN/APG-63(V)3 active electronically scanned array radar; General Electric GE F-110-129 engines; digital joint helmet-mounted cueing systems in both cockpits; and a digital electronic warfare system; as well as other enhancements.