Khalid Mohammad Al Attiyah, Qatar's Minister of State for Defense Affairs, flew in the backseat of an F-15E Strike Eagle from the 334th Fighter Squadron in March during a visit to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina learn about the aircraft’s capabilities. Photo by Airman 1st Class Kenneth Boyton/U.S. Air Force.

Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The Boeing Co. has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force in support of Qatar's F-15 program.

The deal, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, is worth more than $6.173 billion under a undefinitized contract for the foreign military sales requirement to provide 36 new F-15QA aircraft for the Qatar Emiri Air Force.


The Boeing-made F-15 Strike Eagle is a twin-engine fighter designed for multi-role capabilities and first entered regular service in 1972.

Work on the contract will occur in St. Louis, Mo., and is expected to be completed by December 2022, the Pentagon said.

More than $3 billion has been obligated to Boeing from foreign military sale funds at the time the contract was awarded.

The U.S. State Department in November 2016 approved a $21.1 billion foreign military sale to the government of Qatar for 72 F-15QA aircraft, which at the time, was intended to "improve Qatar's ability to meet air-to-air and air-to-ground enemy threats and improve homeland defense capabilities."