UK Defence Senior Adviser to the Middle East and North Africa and Senior Royal Air Force officer Air Marshal Martin Elliot Sampson
London: UK Defence Senior Adviser to the Middle East and North Africa and Senior Royal Air Force officer Air Marshal Martin Elliot Sampson has said the first batch of Typhoon aircraft will be delivered to Qatar starting August.
In an exclusive interview with QNA from London, Sampson said Qatar’s ambitions converge with British ambitions to build balanced forces that vary between land, sea and air forces, stressing that diversity will help in the region’s security as a whole.
He said leaders of forces in Qatar and Britain understand the needs in terms of training and equipment. He explained aspects of cooperation between the two countries in the field of naval support, including agreements requiring cooperation in shipbuilding programmes to enhance naval capabilities, as well as cooperation in the field of cyber and space security between the military institutions in the two countries.
The British military official underlined that the visit by Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to the UK will take the relations between the two countries to another level and make the future of cooperation between the two countries more prosperous, in light of the great ambitions that the two countries want to achieve in future.
He revealed that the MoU signed between the two countries in April 2021 takes the two countries to a higher level towards achieving a unique relationship, pointing out that Britain is cooperating in the field of joint squadron with only two countries in the world, Qatar being one of them.
Sampson added that Qatar, as an ambitious country, is training new generations of pilots. The 11th Typhoon squadron is a way to transfer expertise to our closest friends and to train their future pilots, he said.
