Qatar and the USA have reached an agreement that will see Boeing F-15 fighters from the Qatari air force permanently stationed at a US Air Force base.
The deal was signed in Washington, DC on 10 October at a meeting between the two countries’ defence chiefs.
As part of the new arrangement, Doha will be allowed to construct its facility at the USA’s Mountain Home AFB in Idaho, which will subsequently host a contingent of pilots and F-15QA fighters from the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF).
The number of aircraft and personnel covered under the deal was not immediately disclosed by Washington or Doha.
The USA already has a similar arrangement with Singapore, which has its own squadron of F-15SG fighters permanently stationed at Mountain Home.
Fleets data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows Qatar operates 48 F-15QAs – upon which Boeing’s latest F-15EX is based – with options for an additional 24 jets.
The timing of the basing agreement between Washington and Doha appears tied to the Trump Administration’s recent diplomatic success in brokering a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas to end fighting in the Gaza territory.
Qatar has been a key intermediary throughout that process and has long served as neutral ground hosting both Hamas officials and a substantial US military presence. The Al Udeid air base in Doha is the Pentagon’s largest military site in the Middle East, serving as the forward headquarters of US Central Command and permanent headquarters of the US Navy’s Middle East and India-focused Fifth Fleet.
However, Doha’s own security appeared shaky in September after Israel carried out brazen and lethal air strikes against Hamas negotiators inside the Qatari capital.
A Qatari official was also killed in that attack, according to the BBC.
In a bid to shore up the crucial US security partnership with Qatar, the Trump Administration unveiled a new mutual defence pact with Doha on 29 September.
That framework includes guarantees of territorial integrity and a commitment from Washington to defend Qatar against aggression.
“In recognition of this history, and in light of the continuing threats to the state of Qatar posed by foreign aggression, it is the policy of the United States to guarantee the security and territorial integrity of the state of Qatar against external attack,” the White House says.
The USA’s agreement allowing the QEAF to base its fighters on US soil is likely an extension of that security framework, as Washington seeks to shore up ties with a key overseas partner that, by virtue of the mutual defence commitment, has been formally elevated from lesser partner status to a full ally.
“You can count on us,” US defence chief Pete Hegseth told his Qatari counterpart Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani at the 10 October signing ceremony for the F-15 basing deal.
Earlier this year, the Trump Administration accepted a donated Boeing 747-8 business jet from the Qatari royal family, with plans to convert the aircraft into a new presidential transport.
That move raised the hackles of outside ethics experts and left aviation industry observers questioning the cost of a conversion and how the US government could possibly certificate such a jet for the sensitive presidential transport mission.
