If you’re buying Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft in 2018, you are either an idiot or motivated by other interests.
I note that in the context of Qatar’s multibillion dollar deal to acquire 24 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from Britain and inject billions of dollars into the U.K. economy. To sweeten the deal, Britain has even allowed Qatar to form a joint air squadron with the Royal Air Force. The only RAF squadron of its kind, the joint Qatari No. 12 squadron was activated on Tuesday and represents a valuable political nod to Qatar.
But here’s the thing. The Typhoon is a pretty worthless aircraft. Qatar has already purchased dozens of F-15 variants from the U.S. and dozens of Rafale aircraft from France. Those fighter aircraft represent tens of billions of dollars in investments and are superior to the Typhoon in ranged targeting and engagement. It makes little military sense for Qatar to now operate the Typhoon alongside its F-15/Rafale portfolio.
In addition, with Qatar’s most likely conflict adversaries being the Saudis and the UAE, it makes sense for the kingdom to focus on one high-end platform. That’s because the Saudis and the UAE would outnumber and surround Qatar’s air force in very short order in any conflict. To have any chance of winning or earning a cease-fire, the Qataris would need to keep their air force flying non-stop, and they would have to kill enemy aircraft before they could enter Qatari air space. But if engineers and mechanics are having to repair multiple different aircraft, then spare parts will become sparse, and air power will quickly diminish.
Another problem? The engineers would struggle to fix aircraft they are not accustomed to. The same challenge is equally true with pilots: You can’t simply plop a pilot out of an F-15 and into a Rafale or Typhoon and think they will have the same command of that aircraft’s capabilities.
That speaks to the ultimate truth here. Qatar isn’t buying these aircraft for reasons of overlapping capability, but rather for reasons of political patronage. As long as it continues supporting extremist groups, the only tool Qatar will have in its diplomatic armament is money. But Qatar believes that if it can inject enough billions of dollars into foreign economies, those nations will be more predisposed to supporting Qatari interests on the world stage.
To adapt from the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, Qatar’s jet purchases thus represent the continuation of politics by mercantile means.
