On April 9, six Y-20A strategic transport aircraft of the Chinese Air Force suddenly appeared in Europe, transited in Turkey, and finally landed at Batanica Air Base in Serbia. This is also the first time since the birth of the Y-20A strategic transport aircraft that it has operated in a 6-aircraft formation in overseas areas. This also proves that china's Y-20 strategic transport fleet already has long-range strategic maneuver capabilities, and the Chinese Air Force has world-class strategic maneuver capabilities.
So, why did the 6 Y-20As of the Chinese Air Force suddenly appear in Serbia? It turned out to be "delivery courier" to go.
Serbian President Vucic then publicly explained that the six Chinese Y-20A strategic transport aircraft mainly performed the "door-to-door" service to transport the FK-3 medium- and long-range air defense missile system that Serbia ordered from China three years ago. Refusing to follow russia's lead, several EU and NATO members banned Russian energy and weapons from arriving in Serbia. The FK-3 medium- and long-range air defense missile system ordered from China was also embargoed, which made it impossible for Serbia to receive the FK-3 medium- and long-range air defense missile system on time.
Serbia is a landlocked country and can only rely on land and air transport for transport. Since NATO will not let China's missiles be delivered smoothly, China will deliver them to its own doorstep. 6 Y-20A strategic transport aircraft, not only show China's strong long-distance strategic transport capabilities, but also show that it is absolutely safe to do business with China, you buy without fear of not receiving goods, I will send you directly home!
This has great help in enhancing the international brand image of Chinese military enterprises, and many countries have been choosing one of the United States and Russia in order to ensure the security of their arms supply, and their strong delivery capabilities are looking at. The collective appearance of 6 Y-20A missiles in Europe proves that China also has this capability, which is conducive to further expanding the international market for China's military products.
FK-3 medium and long-range air defense missile system is actually China's own use of the "Hongqi-22" medium and long-range air defense missile foreign trade version, FK-3 air defense system interceptor bomb maximum range of 100 kilometers, the maximum height of 27 kilometers, the use of "radio command + semi-active radar" composite guidance mode, strong anti-jamming ability. With 12 fire channels, it can transmit fire control elements for 12 interceptors and attack 6 of the most threatening targets.
The Serbian order was originally bid for the Serbian order along with the Chinese FK-3 medium- and long-range air defense missile system, which was the Russian S-300PMU2 and S-400 air defense missile systems. However, Serbia is relatively small, with a distance of less than 400 kilometers from north to south and less than 200 kilometers from east to west. If the S-300PMU2 and S-400 are used, the airspace of neighboring countries is basically included in the attack range, which can easily lead to contradictions between Serbia and neighboring NATO countries.
In addition to Serbia, Thailand, another country that purchases FK-3 medium- and long-range anti-aircraft missiles, has an overall situation similar to that of Serbia. Judging from Thailand's feedback, Thailand is satisfied with the performance of the FK-3 medium- and long-range air defense missile system.
Thailand also bought the FK-3
In addition, Serbia's military spending is limited. In the case of the Serbian Air Force, its main fighters are the MiG-29A, MiG-29B and MiG-29UB. Russia gave away 6 MiG-29s and Belarus also donated 4, otherwise the Serbian Air Force had fewer MiG-29 fighters.
In this case, for the Serbian Air Force, it is impossible to be greedy for perfection when purchasing weapons and equipment. The FK-3, a medium- and long-range air defense missile system at the tactical level of the campaign, is just in line with the actual situation in Serbia at present, and the price is also within its acceptable range.
On the whole, the technical performance of the FK-3 medium- and long-range air defense missile system is almost on the same level as that of the AMERICAN Patriot II, and the old Soviet fighters and F-16 fighters used to deal with the surrounding areas of Serbia are enough.
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