The impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Europe and the West is very far-reaching, and even Serbia, the orphan of Europe, has the possibility of being re-accepted by Europe, but will they really rejoin the Western camp after seeing the ugly faces of European empires?
According to US media reports, Serbian President Vučić, who is currently visiting France, revealed in an interview with the media that Serbia will buy 12 Rafale fighters from France!
Does this mean that Serbia has completely abandoned China and Russia, and finally chose the Western camp?
It is no longer a secret that the Serbian Air Force fighters need to be upgraded, since the collapse of Yugoslavia, the equipment of the Serbian Air Force has not been updated, and the MiG-29 left over from the Soviet Union has been in service for more than 30 years, and these old fighters are far from keeping up with the current mainstream level of the world.
Although in the process, Serbia also purchased a batch of the same type of stock fighters from the Soviet Union for repair and replacement of spare parts, but it is clear that the MiG-29 is no longer able to meet the needs of the Serbian Air Force!
In fact, after Serbia was rumored to buy fighter jets, some people thought that they would be a potential customer of China, after all, Serbia, which has been isolated by the whole of Europe in recent years, has a very good relationship with China and Russia, and Serbia has purchased a large number of Chinese weapons and equipment in recent years.
For example, the Hongqi series of anti-aircraft missiles and cost-effective UAVs, etc., although the total value of the order is not very high, but it has greatly increased the frequency of military exchanges between China and Cyprus!
In addition, the relationship between Serbia and China has been steadily improving in recent years, and even many people have shouted that Serbia is China's "Pakistan Railway" in Europe, so the J-10C fighter owned by Pakistan Railway is not just suitable for today's Serbia!
For a long time in the past, it has been rumored that Serbia wants to buy Chinese J-10C fighters, after all, whether in terms of equipment performance or cost performance, J-10C is quite in line with the requirements of the Serbian Air Force.
But now that Vučić has personally admitted that he will buy the French Rafale fighter jets, and has revealed that the contract for the order will be signed in two months, it basically means that the deal is already a foregone conclusion.
The American media's comment on this is that China and the Soviet Union have completely lost hope of winning this order, and Serbia's choice of Western fighter jets this time is likely to be a sign that their overall national strategy has shifted to the West.
Seeing this, I can't help but feel very puzzled, is Serbia really turning to the Western camp? In fact, the reality is far more complicated than what everyone sees!
Serbia's purchase of French Rafale fighters is not the best choice, 3 billion US dollars is enough to buy 12 Rafale, and the cost of each fighter is as high as 250 million US dollars, such a price can even buy the United States' fifth-generation stealth fighter F35, and the purchase of J-10C and Thunder can buy four or five.
In addition, most of Serbia's domestic equipment is a product of the Soviet era, whether it is the radar on the ground or the command system in the air. Under such circumstances, Serbia hastily bought 12 Rafale fighters back, and whether it will be able to integrate into its own combat system at that time is also a huge question.
So what is the reason why Vučić chose to buy the French Rafale fighter jet even though he knew that the premium was serious?
In fact, now that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has changed the pattern of Europe, most of the neutral countries in Europe have joined the NATO camp, and Serbia, a European orphan who has always been inclined to Russia and China, has become less prominent in the contradictions with mainstream European countries.
Serbia is now buying French Rafale fighters at a premium, in fact, it wants to have good relations with the French side, so as to further solve the bad geopolitical situation that Serbia is facing today!
The reason why Serbia wants to buy French fighters at a premium is also a disguised way of spending money to ensure safety. After spending a high price on French fighter jets, any country that wants to use force against Serbia in the future must at least consider the attitude of the French side!
In addition to this part of the considerations, the current situation between Russia and Ukraine is also the main reason for Serbia to buy Rafale fighters, after all, all of Russia's energy is now on the battlefield of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, even if Serbia wants to buy fighter jets from them, where does Russia have the energy to manufacture fighter jets for foreign sales?
What's more, the performance of Russian fighters on the battlefield is so bad, even if Serbia has a good relationship with them, Russian fighters will no longer be their first choice!
Although China is also a good option, China, which is far away in Asia, is far away from Serbia in terms of transportation and geographical location, and even in the case of the closure of the airspace of neighboring countries, China cannot do it even if it wants to give Serbia some support!
Under such a tense situation, it is understandable for the European Cypriots to spend huge sums of money to buy Rafale fighter jets for temporary stability, and their actions will not change the friendship between China and Cyprus!