Qatar says it will take delivery of the first six F-15QAs from Boeing by March 2021. Brigadier General Issa al-Mahannadi told at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar that another six will be delivered three months later. The rest of the 24 jets will be delivered every three months in batches of four aircraft.

Qatar signed agreements to buy warplanes from the United States as well as Europe last year after a political dispute broke out between it and neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain.

“This is not a purchase, it is a strategic partnership with the U.S.,” Mahannadi said.

Qatar in August announced it would expand Al Udeid, which hosts the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East, to accommodate the F-15s and other fighter jets.