The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Qatar of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related equipment, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on 26 March 2025.
The proposed sale, which is worth an estimated USD 1.96 billion (EUR 1.82 billion), has been passed to the US Congress for final approval.
Qatar has requested to buy eight GA-ASI MQ-9B UAVs; 200 KMU-572 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits for Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-38s or Laser JDAM GBU-54s; 300 BLU-111 500 lb (227 kg) general-purpose bombs; 100 MXU-650 air foil groups for Paveway II GBU-12 bombs; 100 MAU-169 computer control groups for Paveway II GBU-12 bombs; 28 Embedded Global Positioning System/inertial navigation system (EGI) security devices with M-Code; 12 EGI security devices with Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Modules; 10 Lynx AN/APY-8 synthetic aperture radars; 10 L3 Rio Grande communications intelligence sensor suites; 110 AGM-114R2 Hellfire II missiles; and eight M36E9 Hellfire Captive Air Training Missiles.
Among the additional non-major defense items (MDE) requested are Honeywell TPE-331 turboprop engines to power the MQ-9Bs; Certifiable Ground Control Stations; SeaSpray 7500 maritime active electronically scanned-array radars; M299 Longbow Hellfire missile launchers; spare and repair parts; and various aspects of training, transportation, engineering, technical, logistics and programme support.
“The proposed sale will improve Qatar’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing timely intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, target acquisition, counter-land, and counter-surface sea capabilities for its security and defense,” the DSCA stated. “This capability is a deterrent to regional threats and will primarily be used to strengthen its homeland defense.”
Qatar is not a current user of the MQ-9B.
The principal contractors for this FMS will be GA-ASI, located in Poway, California; Lockheed Martin, located in Bethesda, Maryland; RTX Corporation, located in Waltham, Massachusetts; L3Harris, located in Melbourne, Florida; Boeing, located in Arlington, Virginia; and Leonardo, located in Rome, Italy.
