Qatar will become the 13th country to operate the Patriot missile defense system, and the fourth of six Gulf Cooperation Council members to opt for it, according to Raytheon.

The contract was negotiated between the governments of the United States and Qatar as part of a $23 billion arms package announced in March that also includes Boeing attack helicopters and Javelin missiles built by a Raytheon-Lockheed Martin Corp joint venture.

The United States first approved the sale of up to $9.9 billion worth of Patriot batteries and other equipment in late 2012.

The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air defense missile system, which is in service with the United States Army and several allied nations. It is manufactured by the U.S. Defense Company Raytheon and derives its name from the radar component of the weapon system.

Patriot systems have been sold to Taiwan, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Spain.

Patriot is a long-range, high-altitude, all-weather system that is regularly and rigorously tested with U.S. Army oversight under real-world conditions. The system can counter threats from tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and advanced aircraft, and is continuously upgraded to keep ahead of evolving threats.

The Patriot missile has a maximum range of 70km and can flight at maximum altitude of 24 km.

Poland could be one of the next customers of the Raytheon Patriot missile. In June 2014, the Polish Defense Ministry announced that it was narrowing its search for a missile defense system to two candidates, the Patriot and the Aster offered by the Eurosam consortium of Thales and MBDA.