Joint Venture Established to Deliver Qatari VBCI Fleet

During DIMDEX 2018 in Doha on 13 March, Barzan Holdings (a company 100% owned by the Qatari Ministry of Defence) and Nexter signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) that are further steps on the path to Qatar’s acquisition of the Nexter VBCI.

The acquisition programme, dubbed Al Rayyan, was set in motion on 7 December last year with signature of a letter of intent between the Qatari MoD (through Barzan Holdings) and Nexter for the development of a partnership around the VBCI procurement. Since then, a joint venture has been established, which will form the local industrial base to deliver and maintain complete vehicles.

The first MoU, announced by Nasser Al Naimi, Managing Director of Barzan Holdings and Stéphane Mayer, CEO of Nexter and co-CEO of KNDS represents a major step in the strategic partnership between Qatar and France: it will allow cooperation between Nexter, the French leader in land defence, and Barzan, a Qatari strategic industrial player. As well as working to finalise the Qatari VBCI programme, other common projects are under consideration to propose complementary solutions to the Qatari forces. The second MoU between Barzan Holdings, Nexter and all other industrial partners for the Al Rayyan programme, formalises the industrial cooperation and the launches the contractual process.

“Barzan Holdings is delighted to partner with Nexter, a leading French defence company on this strategic programme. The VBCI programme will empower the military capabilities of the Qatar Armed Forces and represents a major step forward in Qatar’s defence industry,“ commented Al Naimi.