Recently, the Russian Military Review website stated that according to the data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, Russia's arms exports fell by about 26% between 2017 and 2021. This 26% market share is mainly composed of India and Vietnam, followed by Egypt and Indonesia. These countries either suspend the purchase of Russian arms or directly turn to US-made weapons and equipment. Especially after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict this year, many countries have canceled Russia's orders, such as Egypt canceled the Su-35 fighter jets, which have been produced, and India has also suspended the orders for helicopters.
At present, India is still the largest customer of Russian arms, and has purchased 25% of Russian-made arms; India's fighter jets and tanks and still have a lot of demand, and it is still equipped with Russian weapons. China is secondly, buying 18% of Russian-made arms. Although it does not buy in large quantities, it still has orders in recent years, such as the purchased Mi-17 series helicopters. Russian media believe that although India is still the largest customer, the Chinese market is still worthy of Russia's expansion and needs to sell more weapons to China.
What did China buy in the past few years from 2017 to 2021? According to incomplete statistics, the most conspicuous ones are 121 Mi-171/M-171Sh transport helicopters, including 82 Mi-171 and Mi-171E and 18 Mi-171Sh helicopters. As for the purchase of Su-35SK and S-400 air defense missile systems, it was an order that was finalized before 2016. It can be said that in the past few years from 2017 to 2021, China has not bought weapons from Russia.
As for other areas of military-industry cooperation between the two countries, China has got rid of Russia's influence early on. The last batch of AL-31F engine was purchased in 2005, when China bought 123 AL-31FN for the production of J-10B fighter and J-10C fighter . The largest import item in the field of aero engines is the D-30KP2 engine. China purchased a total of 463 units from 2016 to 2020; the purchase of the last batch of anti-ship missiles and anti-radiation missiles remained before 2016.
At present, it seems that China still needs to import major items from Russia are helicopters, various airborne missiles and missiles equipped with S-400 air defense systems. These are just emergency options to meet the current production capacity vacancy, or to meet the needs of the Air Force's Russian-made equipment and ammunition. China's degree of localization in the military industry has been very high. The D-30KP2 engine of Y-20 and H-6K/J/N has been replaced with the domestic WS-18, and the J-20 has also been replaced with the WS-10C, and the aviation field has basically got rid of its dependence on Russia. The Su-30MKK/MK2, Su-35SK and S-400 air defense missile systems imported from Russia still require Russian ammunition.
Objectively speaking, the era of China importing large quantities of Russian arms has long ended. The weapons that Russia can provide are either not advanced enough or have poor actual combat performance. In short, what the Russian media believes that "weapons should be exported to China" is basically impossible. Apart from small batches of missile consumables exported, Russian arms have no great advantages compared to Chinese weapons. Some Chinese weapons and equipment have already formed an advantage in performance, even surpassing Russia's weapons and equipment.
After all, Russia has seen China's rise in the military field in recent years, especially the navy: Russian media published articles in its domestic comments more than once that in the face of the current severe lack of a new generation of large surface combat ships, the Russian Navy should purchase 054A frigate, 052D destroyer from China, or repurchase "Modern-class" destroyer. Judging from the recent situation on the battlefields of Russia and Ukraine, Russia needs to buy far more than naval ship from China!
Russia has not performed well recently on the battlefield of Russia and Ukraine. Most of Khlsong Prefecture has been lost, and the front line has been stalemate. In order to deal with the large number of European and American air defense missile systems and Himas rocket launcher equipped by Ukraine, the Russian army should purchase airborne electronic warfare systems from China to reduce the losses of fighter , and should also purchase anti-artillery radars and multi-barrel rocket launcher to lock and destroy Haimas rocket launcher.Regarding this, the Russian army can actually purchase J-16D electronic warfare aircraft and AR-3 multi-barrel rocket launchers from China.
The drone is customized, and the paint is done. At the same time, the Russian Aerospace Forces also have serious lack of precise guidance weapons and drones. They can purchase Thunderstone-6 series precision navigation missiles from China, as well as Wingshock and Rainbow series drones, which can meet the needs of Russian military's ground strikes and battlefield situation awareness. These happen to be the shortcomings of the Russian army. In order to make up for the shortcomings in ground strikes, the Russian army even imported a large number of suicide drones and short-range ballistic missiles to Iran.
Naval ocean-going combat ships are still acceptable for Russia, but in the long run, the Russian Navy will inevitably develop in a stronger and stronger way; at present, Russia's shipbuilding industry has paralyzed most of the time, so where does it start to recover the navy? Even if we put aside arms, Russia can purchase or even customize military quilts, outdoor products, bulletproof helmets, , tactical vests, etc. After all, China's bulletproof equipment is first-class worldwide. The Chinese bulletproof insert plate purchased by Russian soldiers before the war blocked a shell fragment and a bullet for him on the battlefield.
And if you are in normal times, these things can be purchased directly from China. China and Russia are back-to-back strategic partnerships, and military exchanges and cooperation between the two sides are normal. But as China's defense science and technology strength becomes stronger, arms trade cooperation between China and Russia will inevitably decline due to China's rise. However, if one day China's various weapons and equipment forced Russia to sigh, would Russia ask China to buy equipment?
