DIMDEX 2026: Barzan agreements include Indonesia, Poongsan, General Atomics

A demonstrative image of the various parts of MKE's Tolga short-range air-defence system. (MKE)

Qatar's Ministry of Defence (MoD) and its state-owned defence company Barzan Holdings announced various agreements covering production and components at the DIMDEX defence exhibition held in Doha, Qatar, between 19 and 22 January 2026.

Indonesia

On 20 January, the MoD announced the signing of what it called “purchase contracts” between Barzan Holdings and the Indonesian MoD valued at QAR8 billion (USD2.2 billion).

Barzan Holdings called them “procurement contract agreements”, with a company representative telling Janes they included “multiple components for different systems.”

Poongsan

On 20 January, Barzan announced a tripartite agreement with South Korea's Poongsan Corporation and Indonesian company Republikorp to establish an ammunition manufacturing plant in Indonesia.

General Atomics

On 19 January, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Barzan Holdings “to collaborate on the development of advanced battle management software capabilities”, GA-ASI said, adding that the MoU provided a framework “to develop software solutions that enhance theatre-level situational awareness and enable the efficient processing, correlation, and dissemination of intelligence”.

A potential collaboration is likely to include use of GA-ASI's System for Tasking and Real-Time Exploitation (STARE), Metis unmanned task manager, and Multi-Misson Controller (MMC) software under its Quadratix unifying software enterprise.

On 17 December 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed Qatar's decision, which was finalised in May 2025, to procure eight MQ-9B SeaGuardian maritime versions of GA-ASI's SkyGuardian unmanned aircraft system (UAS) as part of a USD2 billion deal with General Atomics.