Before the Gulf War broke out, Iraq and Iran had been fighting for 8 years because of the border dispute. In this eight-year war, the two Iraqi countries launched a fierce battle with all the forces of the country, resulting in the death of a large number of people in the war. Military expenditures and the economic damage caused by the war totaled more than 600 billion U.S. dollars. Among them, Iraq has changed from a rich country before the war to a debtor country, with debts of up to 80 billion U.S. dollars. It can be said that the Iran-Iraq War was not worth the gain for both sides, and the blow to the people of both sides was unprecedented.
But everything has advantages and disadvantages. During the Iran-Iraq War, other countries made great war fortunes and benefited a lot from it. In order to maintain the huge war consumption, Saddam purchased a large amount of materials needed for war from other countries. Most of the weapons were purchased from Western countries and the Soviet Union, and the resulting arms debt was about 40 billion U.S. dollars. As a major extraterritorial country, China has also sold large quantities of weapons and equipment to Iraq. One of the most shocking is that Iraq has placed a large order to buy 6 billion rounds of bullets from China. After receiving the order, all the military factories that produce bullets immediately went into high-speed operation and completed the processing and production tasks in a short time. Satisfy Iraq’s demand for ammunition.
In addition to the large order of 6 billion rounds of bullets, China has also exported fighter jets, missiles, tanks and other equipment to Iraq. During the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqi Air Force was mainly equipped with Soviet-made fighters. When facing Iran's F-14, F-4, and F-5 fighters, it was unable to form a quantitative strategic advantage. Chinese fighters are inexpensive and perform well, so the Iraqi Air Force purchased 80 J-7s from China at a time. In addition, China North Industries Group sold 2,800 69-2 medium tanks to the Iraqi Army, earning more than 1 billion US dollars in foreign exchange in a short period of time, which was a considerable income at the time.
When the Iran-Iraq War broke out, at the time of domestic reform and opening up, everything should be centered on economic construction, including production and construction in the military field. Therefore, the number of weapons purchased by the Chinese military has been greatly reduced, and orders from domestic military factories have been reversed. However, with the start of the Iran-Iraq War, in addition to exporting weapons and equipment to Iraq, Chinese military industry also exported a batch of equipment to Iran, and obtained a large number of orders through two-handed sales. The military industry that was on the brink of bankruptcy was successfully “landed” as a result. I have to say, "When the artillery strikes, the gold is ten thousand taels." No wonder the United States has been keen on war.
Until now, Middle Eastern countries are still major customers in the international military industry. For example, Saudi Arabia has purchased a batch of drones from China in recent years. In the geopolitical game, the military industry has clearly become the largest beneficiary, which has also intensified the enthusiasm for countries to seize the arms market.
