Qatar buys 8 Pakistani-made training airplanes for the military fleet.
With arrival of the Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain to Doha for an official visit, Pakistan and Qatar struck a deal for the purchase of 8 Pakistani-made training aircraft for the military.
The planes are 8 Super Mushshak, manufactured at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, and will be used for training by the Qatari air force.
The Super Mushshak is a primary trainer aircraft, and an upgraded, more efficient variant of the MFI-17 Mushshak. It was first produced in 1995, and is currently owned and operated by several military organizations around the world. They include the air forces of Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Oman and Syria.
The sale will help boost Pakistan’s struggling economy and aid them in their efforts to become a global exporter. Just a day before the deal was signed with Qatar, PAC announced that Nigeria has requested 10 Super Mushshak, and Turkey had previously ordered 100 crafts.
Even though Qatar has the second smallest military in the Middle East, it is one of the highest spenders. Their budget in military expenditures was $3.8 billion in 2015, and is expected to reach above $4.4 billion by the end of 2016.
In recent years the small gulf nation has been working on both enhancing and growing its military in size, which currently is 12,000-man strong. They recently initiated mandatory national service laws, and have been participated in many training programs with foreign nations.
