As we all know, our country has a "hardcore" friend in the Middle East, and this is Saudi Arabia. my country's exchanges with Saudi Arabia are not only at the economic level such as oil trading. At the same time, China and Saudi Arabia have maintained a large number of weapons and equipment transactions for many years, including the integrated detection and attack drone, self-propelled howitzer , ballistic missile , etc. In terms of weapon and equipment transactions, my country is the exporter, while Saudi Arabia is the importer.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has introduced a large number of China-made reconnaissance and attack integrated drones, and has directly introduced two production lines of "Rainbow-4" and TB-001. At this year's Zhuhai Air Show, Saudi Arabia even introduced the Eagle Strike-21 hypersonic missile that my country has just unveiled. However, although Saudi Arabia has introduced a large number of weapons and equipment made in my country, it has never introduced the jet fighter , which is made in my country.
The reason why Saudi Arabia has not introduced the fighter , made by my country, has a lot to do with the equipment tradition of the Saudi Air Force. The main equipment of the Saudi Air Force has long been mainly American and European equipment. The Saudi Air Force's active fighter jets include 232 F-15s, 81 Furious Wind and 72 typhoons. The F-15 is made in the United States, and the two fighters, Furious Wind and Typhoons, are made in Europe. It is difficult to completely change the core weapons and equipment of
fighter once equipped. It is not enough to buy fighter jets from other countries to replace them. The entire logistics and maintenance system and weapon system must be replaced, and even pilots have to adapt to fighter jets of unfamiliar systems. Therefore, after the Saudi Air Force has equipped Western fighters for a long time, it will not easily consider changing the equipment system of the fighter jets without special factors. Of course, the Saudi Air Force has long introduced Western fighter jets, and there are factors that are considered from the perspective of bilateral relations.
However, at present, the jet fighter made by my country has ushered in an excellent opportunity to export to Saudi Arabia! First of all, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly rejected the United States' requirement to increase oil production. The relationship between the two sides took a sharp decline. Recently, China and Saudi Arabia signed the "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". The hierarchy of relations between my country and different countries is very clear. Currently, there are only about 20 countries that have become Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with my country. The signing of this agreement shows that both sides regard each other as friends who are completely trusted! The US-Saudi relations have cooled down and China-Saudi relations have heated up. This is one of them.
The second aspect is that although the Western fighter jets introduced by Saudi Arabia, especially the F15 fighter jets from the United States, were bought by Saudi Arabia, the actual use rights were even worse than rented! The Russian nuclear submarine leased by India does not care about how to use it, but the actual control of the more than 200 F15s introduced by Saudi Arabia is in the hands of the United States. Previously, foreign media said: The United States has a backdoor on the F15 fighter jet exported to Saudi Arabia, and the control of the backdoor is in the hands of Israel!
Israeli Air Force can not only grasp the types of ammunition mounted by the Saudi Air Force F15 fighter aircraft and the scheduled flight routes, but also directly take over the flight control of these F15s in critical situations! Don’t think this is an alarmist statement. This is a "tradition" of the United States. For example, last year, the F35 fighter of the South Korean Air Force was revealed to have a problem with the F35 fighter of the South Korean Air Force if the upgraded data packets provided by the United States cannot be updated regularly! The United States has always been good at using exported weapons and equipment to maximize control over the imported countries!
Saudi of course knows that after the relationship with the United States cools down, the more than 200 F15 fighter jets it equipped will become unreliable.Previously, foreign media reported that Saudi Arabia is preparing to introduce hundreds of Rafale fighter , but France is very cold about it! Some netizens believe that the reason why France is cold to Saudi Arabia's willingness to buy Rafale fighter jets is because France's Rafale has been selling well in recent years and has been too busy after orders for a few years! This statement is actually untenable, and there is no reason to refuse the deal that comes to the door. If Saudi Arabia wants to introduce hundreds of Rafale fighters, it is cost-effective to temporarily add a production line!
The reason why France is cold to Saudi Arabia's willingness to introduce Gust is not that it is really not interested, but that it is just afraid of offending the United States! If France agrees to Saudi Arabia introduce hundreds of Rafale fighters, it is equivalent to taking business from the United States, and the United States will naturally be unhappy! Furthermore, if the US-Saudi relations turn cold, France will have to follow the United States to take sides. Exporting hundreds of Rafale fighters to Saudi Arabia at this time is definitely not a good idea! At present, the environment in which Saudi Arabia continues to introduce a large number of Western fighter jets has changed a lot, which has brought an excellent opportunity for my country's fighter jet exports to Saudi Arabia!
Currently, there are two advanced fighter jets in my country that are being promoted to the international market. One is the FC-31, which was unveiled at the air show many years ago. At present, FC-31 has been upgraded to the J-35 and has made its first flight. It will be put into mass production in a few years! It can be seen from my country's J-10CE fighter that there is a high probability that the J-35 will have an export version. After all, the J-35 is a stealth fighter and uses my country's most advanced avionics weapon system. The overall performance is definitely above the gust and F15, and the cost is lower than the gust and F15. You should know that the unit price of the F15SA and gust introduced by Saudi Arabia are both above 200 million US dollars! The J-35 has more advanced performance and cheaper prices, and Saudi Arabia has no reason to refuse.
If Saudi Arabia cannot wait for the J-35, my country still has a ready-made J-10CE fighter. Although the J-10CE is not a stealth fighter, it is equipped with advanced radar and avionic weapon system. Its air combat capability is not under F15 and gusts, and its unit price is only one-something that of the gusts and F15SA! Overall, Saudi Arabia has a tradition of equipping my country's weapons and equipment. At present, China-Saudi relations are becoming more and more profound, and exchanges between them are becoming more and more in-depth. Saudi Arabia has all the conditions to introduce my country's advanced fighter jets. Judging from the performance of my country's fighter jets and the entire air combat system, as long as Saudi Arabia needs it, my country is fully capable of using Chinese equipment to help Saudi Arabia build a first-class air force in Middle East !
