Originally Posted by
melmothtw
I guess it is surprising as there is absolutely no operational value in fielding three almost identical (at least in terms of role) fighter types, and neither is there any industrial value for Qatar.
Being Middle East focused Jackonicko, I guess you have a better insight into the vagaries of their thinking.
Qatar's industrial capabilities are very limited, but three lots of offsets/participation, etc. will be better than one.
Three different centres of decision making if Qatar does anything to provoke sanctions.
Three lots of goodwill, invitations for exercise participation and training courses.
And there are some subtle but important capability differences between the three aircraft - Rafale with its heavy precision stand off weapons capability and recce pod. F-15QA with a great payload/range capability. Typhoon may bring with it some Mission Data capabilities for the QEAF, as well as Meteor, Brimstone and Storm Shadow.