Qatar awards Raytheon USD2.2 billion for additional integrated air and missile defense capability.

Raytheon announced it was awarded two direct commercial sales contracts by Qatar for additional integrated air and missile defense capability. The contracts, worth approximately $2.2 billion, include the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), final certification of the AMRAAM-Extended Range missile, and an unspecified quantity of additional Patriot fire units. These awards are part of a larger agreement being pursued by the Qataris with the U.S. government. The combined value is expected to total up to $3B.

National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) (Picture source: Army Recognition)

"Raytheon's integrated air and missile defense capabilities provide a combat-proven, layered approach that protects citizens, military units and infrastructure from a broad spectrum of threats," said Ralph Acaba, President of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.

Qatar is the first country to procure AMRAAM-ER, the surface-to-air extended-range variant of the combat-proven AMRAAM air-to-air-missile. Qatar also becomes the 11th country to procure NASAMS, a medium-range air-defense solution manufactured by Raytheon and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS. NASAMS uses the Raytheon Sentinel radar and fires multiple interceptors, including AMRAAM-ER.

The combat-proven Patriot system is the backbone of air and missile defense for 16 nations.