Qatar Set to Reveal Defence Production Facility Amid Regional Security Push

Qatar’s defence plant announcement

Qatar will soon announce a defence production plant as the gas‑rich Gulf nation seeks to strengthen its domestic defence capabilities.

Partnerships and statements

Reuters reported that Qatar will tie up with a regional partner and other countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France “to make sure either we do local protection or we are investing in some of these companies”, quoting Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s Defence Minister, speaking on Monday at the Global Security Forum in Doha.

Context of regional attacks

The announcement follows a period in which Qatar and other Gulf states suffered heavy attacks during the Iran war, with energy sites and civilian infrastructure damaged. Parts of Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City – which supplies one fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas – were destroyed, prompting the Gulf nation to declare long‑term force majeure on contracts with some global buyers.

Regional defence investments

The UAE and Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s two largest economies, are already investing in domestic defence capabilities, with Edge Group and the kingdom’s Saudi Arabian Military Industries (Sami) playing a key role.

Edge systems, including jammers, were successful in eliminating 85 per cent of Iranian drones that have been launched at the UAE during the Iran war, Hamad Al Marar, the group’s managing director and chief executive, told The National in an interview at the Make it in the Emirates event in Abu Dhabi in May.

Edge, set up in 2019, specialises in building advanced technology for weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare, with more than 35 companies under its umbrella.

Military spending trends

Military spending in the Middle East has continued to rise as regional conflicts rage, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), which found that expenditure increased to an estimated $218 billion in 2025, up 0.1 per cent compared to the previous year. However, the Sipri report noted a 36 per cent increase over the decade from 2016 to 2025.

The region’s largest spender in 2025 was Saudi Arabia, with estimated expenditure of $83.2 billion. Its spending was 1.4 per cent higher than in 2024 and 12 per cent higher than in 2016.