Preface
In the past, the mainland, like India, relied on the purchase of a large number of advanced weapons and equipment to strengthen itself.
But the mainland is different from India, India is obsessed with buying, while the mainland is more keen to build on its own.
After 30 years of unremitting efforts, the mainland's military equipment has achieved tremendous success in both quality and quantity.
At the same time, the mainland's export of equipment is also developing at a high speed, and it is already the world's third largest arms exporter, and there is even a tendency to surpass Russia and chase after the United States.
Looking at the mainland's achievements today, who would have thought that the mainland's arms exports actually started by half-selling and half-giving away?
- 50s-70s: 半卖半送
From the 50s to the 70s of the last century, during the Cold War, the world pattern presented a situation of bipolar confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.
In order to expand their ideological and political influence, the two major powers of the United States and the Soviet Union have adopted the method of arms export, exporting tanks and artillery overseas.
Of course, they did not export for no reason, but exchanged what other countries needed most at the time for the right to use local military bases and ports.
At the same time, the mainland has not been established for a long time, but it is also actively developing its defense industry and has begun to provide foreign armament assistance.
However, the mainland's export motive was completely different from that of the United States and the Soviet Union: out of the idea of helping, arms were sent to friendly countries in Asia and Africa in the form of free aid, without seeking any economic benefits in return.
At that time, China's military industry was still in its infancy, and the production of rifles, rocket launchers and other light weapons was mainly produced.
For military aircraft, tanks, and other large equipment, the mainland can provide very limited choices, mainly the self-developed J-6 series of trainers and J-7 series fighters.
The technical content of these equipment is not high, and there is a certain gap in performance with the products of the Soviet Union and Western countries in the same period.
However, these free arms from the mainland have mainly entered Southeast Asia and South Asia, and North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan, and other countries have all received military assistance from China.
But because many of these countries have other options, most of the equipment provided by China is used as a backup and does not play a critical role.
It can be said that due to the limitations of China's own military industry at that time, the export of armaments during this period played a relatively limited role in the receiving countries.
Moreover, during this period, the mainland's military products did not really have the strength to compete with other major powers in the international market.
- 80s: the world's fourth largest exporter of equipment
In 1978, the mainland implemented reform and opening up and began the construction of a socialist market economy.
The huge domestic infrastructure construction and industrial upgrading urgently need financial and technical support from abroad.
At the same time, due to the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Iran-Iraq border dispute, Iraq launched a large-scale offensive in September 1980, and the Iran-Iraq War broke out.
The eight-year war has taken a huge toll on both countries, and the demand for weapons and equipment has skyrocketed.
Under the superposition of various factors, the mainland decided to expand the export of weapons and equipment to the outside world in order to obtain more foreign exchange funds, which laid an economic foundation for the mainland to introduce advanced weapons and equipment from the Soviet Union and Russia in the later period.
During this period, a prominent feature of the mainland's large-scale arms exports was its obvious price advantage.
Taking the main battle tank as an example, the export price of a Type 69 tank was around $300,000, while the price of a similar tank in Western countries and the Soviet Union at that time was at least $60-700,000.
Compared with the relatively good quality of Western and Russian weapons and equipment, the quality and performance of China's export products are relatively average, but they have opened up the markets of developing countries with ultra-high cost performance.
At the same time, this also reflects from another aspect that the overall competitiveness of the weapons and equipment independently developed by the mainland in the international market is still relatively weak.
However, during this period, the mainland chose the strategy of exchanging prices for market share, and also accumulated valuable experience in military production and international trade, which played an important role in promoting the development of China's military industry.
- 90s: Exports were greatly discounted, leaving customers with a low-end and shoddy image.
In the 90s, there was a sharp decline in the mainland's exports of weapons and equipment.
For example, in 1987, the mainland's arms and equipment exports accounted for 12% of the world's total, but in 1997 this proportion plummeted to 2.1%.
China, once the world's fourth-largest arms exporter, is rapidly eroding its share of exports.
The emergence of this dilemma is inseparable from the changes in the international pattern and the mainland's own national strength in the 90s.
The direct cause of the decline in exports in the 90s
In a number of local wars and conflicts in the 90s, the main battle equipment exported by the mainland exposed serious practical combat loopholes, which directly led to a crisis of trust in Chinese weapons by international buyers.
The first to bear the brunt is the main battle tank.
The mainland has exported a large number of Type 59 and Type 69 tanks, and these second-generation tanks are completely at a disadvantage in the face of the third-generation tanks of Western countries led by the United States.
There were even a large number of Type 59 and Type 69 tanks destroyed on the battlefield.
At the same time, the J-7 series fighters exported by the mainland are also facing a huge gap with Western fighters such as the F-16 and Mirage 2000.
The J-7, which did not dare to engage head-on, exposed its inherent weaknesses in maneuverability and fire control.
A series of passive situations on the battlefield directly led to the disappointment and distrust of continental weapons among international buyers.
Continental weapons have been labeled as "low-end goods" and "shoddy" in terms of equipment performance and manufacturing process.
So in the crisis of product credibility in the 90s, mainland weapons constantly lost overseas markets.
The root cause of the decline in exports
In fact, the root cause of the dilemma of China's arms and equipment exports appeared much earlier, that is, the weakness of the overall strength of China's defense industry in the 80s of the last century.
In China in the 80s, there was a 30-year gap between the defense industry as a whole and Western countries.
The mainland can only produce a large number of low-end equipment, and there are no cutting-edge products in the high-end field to compete with the West.
And the mainstream products in the mainland's weapons and equipment exports are also represented by cheap second-generation tanks and modified J-7s.
These products have no technical advantages, and can only rely on cost performance to compete for share in the low-end market.
At the same time, the United States dumped a large number of F-16s, directly seizing the mid-to-high-end market.
Although the mainland has made efforts to promote the J-8 series, there is still a significant gap with the F-16, and it is difficult to get rid of the positioning of "low-end products".
Against this background, the mainland's exports of high-end weapons and equipment can almost be said to be ineffective.
The failure of the mainland's international marketing of weapons and equipment is actually the result of the lack of overall national strength and scientific and technological strength, and this structural weakness is the fundamental reason.
- At the beginning of the 21st century, the mainland's arms and equipment exports are still dominated by low-end products
At the beginning of the 21 st century, the mainland's arms and equipment exports were still mainly concentrated in low-end products, such as various types of firearms, ammunition, and non-precision guided weapons.
This was mainly due to the limited level of development of China's own military industry at that time, and the number of high-end precision weapons was small, which was difficult to meet domestic needs, and it was even more unable to export them on a large scale.
According to statistics, in the first decade of the 21 st century, the mainland's arms and equipment exports accounted for only about 5 percent of the world's total exports, and there was a clear gap between it and the world's advanced arms exporters.
- After 2010, with the development of China's military industry, a large number of high-end weapons and equipment were put into service
After 2010, with the rapid development of the mainland's national defense science and technology, the Continental Army Industrial Enterprise developed a large number of advanced weapons and equipment.
These equipment include J-20 stealth fighters, Y-20 large transport aircraft, 052D destroyers, 075 amphibious assault ships, Dongfeng-26 ballistic missiles, etc.
It has not only greatly enhanced the combat capability of the Chinese army, but also laid the foundation for the high-end development of China's weapons and equipment.
During this period, the mainland's aerospace, electronic countermeasures, underwater warfare, and other equipment in various fields developed by leaps and bounds, making China's overall level of weaponry one of the world's most advanced.
This has provided strong support for the mainland's weapons and equipment to export high-end products to the international market.
For example, the "Thunder" fighter was exported in batches.
Pakistan is the largest overseas user of the Thunder fighter jets, and the Pakistan Air Force has equipped more than 100 Thunder fighters to replace the aging J-6 and J-7 fighters.
Under the promotion effect of Pakistan, the "Thunder" fighter has also been favored by other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Due to its low price and performance that meets user requirements, the "Thunder" fighter has broad market prospects in Myanmar, Bangladesh and other countries.
In addition to the batch export of "Thunder" fighters, there is also the mainland's J-10C, whose export has created a precedent for the export of third-generation fighters on the mainland.
In addition to fighters, the mainland's UAVs are also favored by other countries, such as the Pterodactyl series UAVs developed by the mainland, which have been exported to more than 10 countries in batches, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, etc.
Pterodactyl UAV has attracted wide attention for its excellent cost performance, not only low price, but also its actual combat performance is well received by various countries.
In the military conflicts in Libya, Yemen and other places, the Pterodactyl UAV has played a huge role, and with the launch of new models, the mainland UAV is expected to make efforts to the higher-end market.
epilogue
From a seemingly small military aid to high-end military industry, the mainland has gone through a twists and turns.
At all stages of history, the Continental Army has constantly adjusted its positioning under the influence of the international environment.
From gratuitous assistance to emerging countries, to profit, to the export of cheap and high-quality products to the vast number of developing countries, and gradually open up market space.
Today, China's military industry has begun to take shape, and the performance of products in some fields has been among the world's advanced.
This indicates that China will have the strength to compete head-on with established Western manufacturers in the higher-end market in the future.
But at the same time, we must also be soberly aware that China still has a long way to go to become a truly world-class military industrial power.
Only by continuously deepening reform and accelerating independent innovation can China's military industry gain a firm foothold and move towards glory in the fierce global competition.
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