Qatar’s 8×8 Ambitions Bring Fighting Vehicle Companies to Maritime Show

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Qatar’s 8×8 Ambitions Bring Fighting Vehicle Companies to Maritime Show

Stew Magnuson photo

DOHA, Qatar — Qatar’s desire to upgrade its armored personnel carriers brought some of the world’s best known military vehicle manufacturers to the nation’s largest maritime defense trade show to display their massive 8×8 offerings.

The Qatari Emiri Land Forces are looking to update their equipment, and replacing their aging infantry fighting vehicle and armored personnel carriers is a top priority, one executive said.

The Qatari defense acquisition system isn’t as structured at the United States and is a bit more opaque, but the vehicle manufacturers sense that a decision on which way the land forces will go might be near, said Chris Brown, vice president of global strategy and business development for General Dynamics Land Systems.

“They have a requirement for an 8×8 and that is why the whole [armored vehicle] industry is here, because it’s a big, big program,” he said. The country is currently driving French-made 6×6 armored vehicles, he said.

The “here” is the Doha International Maritime Exposition and Conference, or DIMDEX. “It’s a maritime and an 8×8 show,” Brown quipped.

How big is the program? “Well, it’s big enough to have six major competitors spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring their vehicles here. It’s in the hundreds,” said Ted Middleton, General Dynamic Land Systems business development manager for the State of Qatar.

Other 8×8 offerings spotted by National Defense at the show included Iveco Defence Vehicles’ SUPERRAV Land 8×8 Armored Fighting Vehicle from Italy, BMC’s ALTUG from Turkey and a Boxer brought to the show by the British Army rather than the European consortium that manufactures it.

General Dynamics had a prototype of its Desert Viper, which is based on the U.S. Army’s Stryker Combat Vehicle but with several modifications to operate in the desert conditions found in Qatar, Middleton said. The vehicle has been in the country for the past three years under development and to do demonstrations for the land forces.

The company demonstrated the vehicle to its prospective customer in the depths of the brutally hot Qatari summer in 2023, he added.

Special features include a highly efficient cooling system to keep troops comfortable, improved powertrain and suspension to take on the rough terrain and tires that the driver can inflate or deflate depending on the conditions.

“You reduce the tire pressure to spread them out to cover more sand,” Brown said. The driver can inflate them again when encountering the rocky shale found all over Qatar while still driving, he added. “Once you’re back on the highway, you can adjust again,” he added.

There is a lot of technology that goes into a 700 horsepower engine running when it is 140 degrees with sand coming into its intake. General Dynamics learned a lot of lessons about adapting its vehicles to desert conditions after selling is Light Armored Vehicles to Saudi Arabia, Middleton said. “The evolution continues,” he added.

If General Dynamics is selected for Qatar’s 8×8 program, the country would have to go through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales process, he noted.

Topics: International