The Royal Air Force has deployed Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar as part of the UK–Qatar Defence Assurance Agreement.
The deployment involves 12 Squadron, the joint UK–Qatar Typhoon unit, and is being carried out at the invitation of the Qatari government.
The Ministry of Defence said the move reflects the “strong and enduring defence relationship” between London and Doha, with the squadron regularly operating in the region for training, deterrence and assurance activity. Previous deployments have included exercises such as EPIC SKIES and SOARING FALCON, aimed at strengthening interoperability and shared operational experience between the two air forces.
Defence Secretary John Healey said the deployment underlined the continued strategic importance of the Typhoon force, particularly as the UK invests heavily in its future. “Qatar and the UK are close partners with historic defence ties going back decades. This partnership bolsters the national security of both our nations and supports stability in the Gulf region,” he said. “Today’s deployment builds on those shared aims as Typhoon jets from our joint squadron deploy to support its defence.”
Healey linked the move directly to recent investment decisions, adding that it came “alongside our announcement of half a billion pounds investment to upgrade our Typhoons,” describing the aircraft as central to the UK’s ability to reinforce security overseas while protecting interests at home. The government confirmed the deployment is defensive in nature.
The UK and Qatar maintain long-standing cooperation across flying training and combat air capability, including Hawk and Typhoon operations in the UK. The MOD said the latest deployment highlights the importance of working with partners to address shared security challenges, stressing that regular joint activity in the Gulf contributes to wider regional stability.
12 Squadrons seems like a healthy number ! 👀
617 sounds even better, although unlikely.
So the UK withdraws its surface ships from the gulf but deploys a squadron of Typhoon and an SSN to the region.
Not quite the catastrophic drawdown that has been outlined.
Anson’s transiting is she not to Aus rather than deploying?
I also hear that Richmond is gone – so another cut to the frigate force. Thankfully there are no global threats!
Anson will be based in Australia but her likely area of operation will be the Indian Ocean.
Terrible news on Richmond. The rapid deterioration or the Type 23 hulls should have been envisaged. We can only hope that we see rapid progress in the build programme and thank god we have two hot and active frigate factories now up and running.
For all the talk, at the moment the threat seen is actually diminished . China is not yet a problem outside the pacific and Russia is so heavily invested in Ukraine it has nothing left to put anywhere else. The US is still in NATO and there are probably a handful of grown ups that have not yet been purged from the US military now of that will last so the 2030’s is probably a bigger problem.
We probably don’t have to worry about a war with Taiwan anymore because it’s highly likely the US won’t do a thing over Taiwan and even if they did and put a call out to NATO it’s pretty easy for all of Europe to invoke article 6 and say the pacific is not in NATO area of operation. I can’t image how any British priminister will justify intervening on a US operation in the pacific now unless Singapore, Malaysia, Australia or New Zealand are directly attacked.
“Indian Ocean”
Ahh, didn’t we just lose Interest and £35 Billion in that area ? 😅😅😅😅
👍
That seems to be all we are now. A niche capability for global “influence” to bolster other countries capabilities. I suppose that’s what a security seat buys you, as long as we keep it.
The squadron will be protected by levels of GBAB the RAF and army can only dream of with numbers of aircraft across the Gulf states that dwarfs UK numbers.
But It has been a good Market Place for UKPLC !
That’s pretty much what we have been building to for decade’s. Our military is solely populated by career officers largely from special forces who see be a deputy commander as the pinnacle of achievement and build all our capabilities around being able to offer something to the Americans they don’t have. They operate in a world consumed by being and add on to US forces and they take the odd complement from US Generals on their contribution as proof the strategy is working
Politicians lapped this up because it saved money and let them grand stand on the world stage.
This started with thatcher and trident and accelerated from there.
The lessons of Suez were quickly forgotten by the UK but remembered by France.