The Qatar Emiri Air Force has received its first Typhoons.
On Thursday Aug. 25, 2022, three new built Eurofighter Typhoons jets destined to the QEAF (Qatar Emiri Air Force) departed the BAe Systems factory at Warton, UK, to Qatar on their delivery flight to Tamim Airbase, near Dukhan, approximately 80 kilometres west of Doha via Athens. On their way to their final destination, the aircraft were supported by RAF Voyager KC3 ZZ338 of 10/101 Sqdn from RAF Brize Norton.
The flight consisted of: Ascot 9260, ZZ338, Voyager KC3, RAF; RRR9671, ZR508 (QA407), Typhoon, Qatari AF; RRR9672, ZR505 (QA404), Typhoon, Qatari AF; RRR9673, ZR506 (QA405), Typhoon, Qatari AF.
The photos that you can find in this post were taken by our friend and contributor Martin Fox and show the three aircraft, sporting the two-tone grey colour scheme along with the QEAF markings that first emerged in May this year, before they departed from Warton.
Unfortunately early on into the delivery flight whilst tanking over the North Sea, QA407 suffered a technical issue and was forced to return to Warton.
A ceremony was held at Tamim Airbase where one Typhoon was put on display along with two Dassault Rafale, two Boeing F-15QA jets and two NH90 NFH helicopters of the QEAF.
Today H.H. the Amir, Air Chief, and Defense minister took part in receiving the first batch of Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. which is part of Qatar’s continuous march in developing the Qatari Emiri Air Force,and enhancing it with the latest types of equipment and combat aircraft. pic.twitter.com/5NTPRK9RjN
— F15QA🇶🇦 (@NasserF15QA) August 27, 2022
Back in 2017, the QEAF ordered 24 Typhoons along with nine Hawk Mk167 jet trainers, the first two of those were delivered to the joint Hawk training squadron at RAF Leeming: similarly to what has been done with 12 Sqn, the joint RAF-QEAF Typhoon squadron at RAF Coningsby where Qatari pilots are currently being trained, the joint Hawk squadron will train QEAF and RAF pilots and will be home to Qatar’s Hawk T2 Mk167 aircraft.
