Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up to the Aerospace & Defence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
Qatar has said it will buy another 12 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from Britain, easing fears of a gap in workload on the UK assembly lines for the pan-European combat aircraft.
The commitment came after this week’s state visit by the emir of Qatar during which he held talks with Sir Keir Starmer about strengthening economic co-operation between the two countries.
In a joint statement issued by Qatar on Thursday evening, the emirate said the two countries had agreed to extend the existing partnership between the Qatar Amiri Air Force and the Royal Air Force beyond 2030.
The extension, it said, would “allow for the continued development of capabilities through the training, exercises, and graduation of Qatari and British pilots in both countries”. To enable this partnership, it added, “Qatar will procure an additional 12 Typhoon jets”.
Although Qatar has not yet signed a firm contract, the news should bring a much-needed boost to BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence group, which assembles the aircraft for the emirate at its facility in Warton in Lancashire. In the first half of next year, the factory is due to deliver the last two jets from a previous £5bn order by Qatar for 24 Typhoons signed in 2018.
Unions have in recent weeks raised concerns about the prospect of work ending on the final assembly line in the absence of new orders. The Typhoon is built by a consortium involving BAE, Airbus and Leonardo, with each taking the prime contractor position depending on the customer.
The UK is the lead Eurofighter export nation for campaigns related to Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia but new orders have so far not been placed. A fresh order from Qatar would deliver another year of work for the facility, according to people familiar with the situation.
Union representatives also want a commitment from the UK government to order more Typhoons to ensure that key skills are retained in the country. They say these will be needed for the trilateral Global Combat Air Programme to build a next-generation jet with Italy and Japan. Although export orders are welcome, unions have argued that a domestic order is critical to ensuring work remains in the UK.
“We would like the British government to commit to ordering a squadron of 24 Typhoon jets, it must be noted that we are the only partner nation in the Eurofighter consortium that hasn’t committed to buying new aircraft,” unions wrote in a letter to the chair of the Commons defence select committee.
“[A] domestic order will not only fulfil a military requirement for the RAF in these unstable times but will also ensure that vital skills required to build the next-generation aircraft, GCAP, are retained at Warton,” the letter said.
It was “important to ‘buy British’ so that people keep the muscle memory and the skills of how to do final assembly line work”, Steve McGuinness, an executive council member for the union Unite, told the Financial Times.
There would also be “wider benefits to UK manufacturing as there would be maintenance and overhaul work” on any jets, he added.
BAE had been expected to keep some work going on the final assembly line with research and development for future projects after the delivery of the two final jets from the previous order. The company has in the past also redeployed workers across the wider Typhoon programme and other combat air programmes in the business.
BAE declined to comment on Thursday. The UK Ministry of Defence pointed to a statement issued on Wednesday that set out a closer economic partnership between the two nations.