【Military Subplane】Author: Lu Zhi
The news of the mainland's arms exports has always been the hot spot that many military fans are most concerned about, but in the last two news about the mainland's military exports, there have been results that everyone does not want to see. Argentina officially decided to buy second-hand F16 fighters from Denmark, and the Thunder fighter jet, which was very popular in China, was completely out. On the other hand, Serbia has also officially decided to buy 12 Rafale fighters from France, and the news that it is possible to purchase J-10 fighters from the mainland has also been self-defeating. So why is it that the continental fighter is not as smooth as the US and European weapons in the export market? Is it a problem with the performance of the continent's own weapons?
▲ Image source: Internet
As a matter of fact, the international arms export market has always been watched by insiders, and by laymen, but those who say that it is because the mainland's weapons are not good enough or even have no actual combat records that those who fail to win the market are mostly outsiders who see the excitement or have a little difficulty in getting up, because they only need to give a few examples. Israel has recently discussed buying F-15 fighters from the United States, so why not buy the Su-34 fighters, which have a better foundation? If the United States and Israel join hands to improve them, they can be directly upgraded to light bombers. The reason is simple, it is a Russian weapon, Israel cannot buy it, and Russia cannot sell it. Second, the DPRK's air force fighters are now aging, so why won't they directly buy F-35 fighters from the United States? Isn't it a civilized and free country? Therefore, just from these two examples, we can see that the first reason for restricting international arms exports is not the performance of the weapons at all, but the political relations between countries, so that they can decide what they cannot buy and what they can buy, and the United States still wants to buy the Jian-20!
▲ Image source: Internet
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union exported the largest amount of arms in the world, and other countries had to stand aside, because they were the most powerful in military and economic power, so neighboring countries had to adopt a good-neighborly and friendly strategy. Countries that are relatively close to the United States and are geographically close can only buy American weapons, and even very few countries can buy European weapons. And countries that are closer to the Soviet Union can only buy Soviet weapons, in fact, they are spending money to buy loyalty, big brother, you see, I am happy to be your little brother, you have to protect me if something happens, I have to ask my big brother to say a few words. Many people will give examples, and some countries buy weapons from France, but in fact, this is also due to political factors, or a few very simple examples. The mainland wanted to introduce new fighters in the 80s, after all, the J-10 fighter had not yet been mass-produced and put into service at that time, and the first thing the mainland wanted to choose was the Mirage 2000 fighter from France, the most fundamental reason is that the political impact of buying French fighters is relatively small, the Soviet Union has not yet released its previous suspicions, and the United States has bad intentions, and France is the choice to bypass the main contradiction. Not only that, Taiwan has also purchased Mirage 2000 fighter jets, and even purchased France's Lafitte-class frigates, also due to political factors. Moreover, India, the third in the world, vigorously introduced Soviet and Russian fighters, while developing its own, had to import European and French fighters, and it was not for the sake of political balance.
▲ Image source: Internet
Purely from the performance of the fighter, the mainland's J-10CE is not inferior to the Typhoon and Rafale and Gripen fighters, if you want to take into account the price factor, then the cost performance is very high. At present, the price of Rafale and Typhoon fighters in the international market has been about 200 million US dollars or even higher, while the export price of J-10 fighters is generally about 50 million US dollars, and the price of full weapons is 70 million US dollars, which is equivalent to saying that a Rafale and Typhoon fighters can buy 2~3 or even more J-10 fighters. No matter how strong the combat performance of a single Rafale fighter is, it is impossible to be stronger than two J-10 fighters. As for the actual combat record that many people say, fighting guerrillas and missiles at long-range launch points, this is also called actual combat record? Not to mention fighting with the advanced weapons of the first-line powers, it is really not possible to start with Iran or Pakistan to practice their hands, and try the Jian-10 and Thunder Dragons, which have no actual combat records on the mainland? Fighting the MiG-21 and MiG-29 all their lives, these are all called actual combat records? If you really have nothing to say, you can describe it as classical, inheritance, and craftsman spirit.
▲ Image source: Internet
Going back to the first two examples, the biggest reason why Argentina wants to buy F16 fighter jets is that Argentina has never considered itself a third world country, they consider themselves noble Caucasians, noble Westerners. No matter how good the weapons of China and Russia are, they will not be able to enter their eyes. Although there has been a lot of news that they like the Thunder fighter jet, it is more just a bargaining chip in negotiations with other countries to introduce fighter jets.
▲ Rest assured, J-10 has no actual combat record, send your fighters!
Serbia is naturally the same, the size of the Serbian Air Force is already very small, if the introduction of fighter jets from the mainland is definitely to spend a small amount of money to do a big thing, the appearance of the word China in these years will make the white pigs climax in situ, Serbia has been ravaged by the West once, they don't want to and dare not have a second time. But if the introduction of Russian fighter jets will undoubtedly make European countries scoff at it, and directly turn you into an axis of evil powers, and step on the spot, the glory belongs to Serbia, the women belong to European men, the land belongs to the American younger brother, and the destruction of the country and the species is in front of Serbia, so a large country has no choice at all. Moreover, at a deeper level, Serbia wants to actively join the EU, so the purchase of European fighter jets will also become Serbia's ticket to the EU.
Therefore, Serbia and Argentina each choose the fighter they want in their hearts, and it has nothing to do with the performance of the fighter at all, especially Serbia, the hardships of small countries are not something that netizens under the protection of our big countries can figure out with their own brains. As for the export of fighter jets from the mainland, you can also clearly see that it is still Pakistan, Thailand and other relatively friendly countries and regions. Once the influence of the mainland becomes greater, and the military strength and economic strength are also stronger, then Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America are the real potential export markets for the continent's fighter jets. At that time, maybe there will be a country that will change its attitude, and there will be brave men under heavy rewards and heavy pressure!
▲ Image source: Internet