Qatar has announced contracts worth around QR87bn ($23.9bn) for missiles, tankers, helicopters and other weapons. The deals – with around 20 international companies – were announced on 27 March, the closing day of the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (Dimdex), dwarfing expectations. The single biggest contract was for a Patriot air defence system, to be built by Raytheon and equipped with missiles made by Lockheed Martin, as a foreign military sale (FMS) from the US government, worth QR27.5bn. No complete list of the deals has been released, but based on reports by state media, defence and security intelligence analyst Jane’s and newswires