Military and Commercial Technology: Pentagon awards $734.8M to Boeing, Raytheon for support of Qatar's F-15s

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Pentagon awards $734.8M to Boeing, Raytheon for support of Qatar's F-15s - UPI.com

By Christen McCurdy

An Israeli Air Force F-15 performs during a graduation ceremony of Israeli air force pilots in June. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The Pentagon this week awarded two contracts totaling $734.8 million for infrastructure and equipment for the Qatar Emiri Air Force.

The larger of the two deals, announced on Monday, is a $657.2 million contract for Qatar's F-15 program.

Per this week's deal, Boeing will provide sparing and support for the F-15QA aircraft once they are delivered to Qatar, as well as logistical support and administrative costs.

Boeing is contracted to deliver 36 F-15QA aircraft to Qatar, with the first arriving in 2021. The U.S. Air Force announced in October that it is working with the QEAF to prepare for the aircraft's arrival.

A Tuesday press release from the contractor announced the deal along with two other recent contracts to support the QEAF: a previously unannounced $240 million, five-year contract for F-15QA program management, and a $68 million contract announced in April to provide maintenance and logistics support for the QEAF during their pre-delivery training for the F-15QA.

"The tailored training and sustainment delivered by our team, coupled with Boeing's platform expertise, allows us to deliver a holistic solution to our Qatari customer so they can optimize the full capability of their fleet with high availability rates," said Tim Buerk, director of Middle East defense services for Boeing.

"We look forward to our continued partnership with Qatar and further supporting their mission readiness needs," Buerk said.

Under the second deal, valued at $77.6 million, Raytheon will upgrade the Qatar Air Operations Center.

That includes the procurement and installation of hardware and software, as well as testing, end-user training and help desk support.

The F-15QA, which performed its maiden flight in April, has been described as the most advanced variant of the F-15 and is based on the F-15SA, which is currently in production for Saudi Arabia.

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