For a long time, the HJ-12 was "not for sale".

It's one thing to be too advanced, but it's too expensive.

According to the ratio of a launch system equipped with ten missiles, the unit price of the HJ-12 foreign trade version is as high as 170,000 US dollars, which is about the same as the "Javelin" in its early 200,000s.

How expensive is that?

It is equivalent to three times that of the "Tao" heavy anti-tank missile, and the unit price of the AGM-114 "Hellfire" anti-tank missile used by the US military is only 100,000 to 150,000 US dollars.

Although the price at which the US military purchases "Javelins" is much lower, with a unit price of less than $100,000, in the international market, there is almost no market for individual antitank missiles with a unit price of $100,000 or more, and few countries are willing to spend so much money to buy antitank missiles for their soldiers.

No matter how powerful the HJ-12 is, it is not three "pottery" types.

For the international market, Huaxia has developed a "low-profile" foreign trade version with a unit price of less than 100,000 US dollars and an increased range on the basis of the HJ-12.

And there's more than that.

The first to be introduced was the TV-guided type, that is, the expensive infrared imager was eliminated, so it could only be used during the day when the weather conditions were good.

This was followed by an extended-range version, which doubled its range to 4,000 meters and was still guided by television.

Finally, two models were introduced, namely the laser beam guidance type and the laser beam guidance extended range type, which have the ability to fight at night and in adverse weather conditions.

It's just that these "low-profile versions" have never been able to open the market.

The reason is also very simple, the ratio is insufficient, and the comparison is more than the bottom.

Although the price is much cheaper, the combat effectiveness is also much lower, and the unit price of about $100,000 is still not cheap.

To guide, the main competitor of individual anti-tank missiles is not heavy anti-tank missiles, but bazookas.

The unit price of the RPG-7 is around $1,000, the AT-4 is only $4,000, and the latest RPG is less than $1,000.

For many countries, there is clearly no reason to replace a few thousand dollars of bazooka with a $100,000 missile.

Even if you need anti-tank missiles, you can choose heavy anti-tank missiles such as the "Tao" type, and you must be issued anti-tank missiles for infantry.

Of course, this is not to say that this is true for all countries.

Tyrant countries like Saudi Arabia are the exception.

As a matter of fact, Saudi Arabia has been asking the United States to buy "Javelin" anti-tank missiles, but the United States has always refused to sell them to Saudi Arabia on the grounds that the technology is too advanced.

Fundamentally, the United States is worried about the proliferation of this advanced anti-tank missile through Saudi Arabia.

Don't forget, Saudi Arabia has been propping up Sunni forces in the Middle East, and many of these non-state armed groups are anti-Israeli.

If the Saudi-purchased Javelins fall into the hands of Allah Lebanon, it will be the IDF that is unlucky.

After hitting a wall several times, Saudi Arabia turned its attention to the East.

Obviously, Saudi Arabia is not interested in the "low-profile" foreign trade type, but the genuine HJ-12.

You must know that in the world, only the HJ-12 can match the performance of the "Javelin", and several other individual anti-tank missiles are either backward in guidance or too close, for example, the range of the French "Alex" is only 600 meters, while the Russian AT-14 "Cornet" uses a laser beam guidance mode, which does not have the ability to attack the top, and the safety of the shooter is very problematic.

As for the price, the opposite is not a problem, after all, the HJ-12 is definitely cheaper than the "Javelin".

Initially, Huaxia did not plan to sell the HJ-12 to Saudi Arabia, citing the same fears as the United States that the advanced anti-tank missile would fall into the hands of extremist groups.

Let's not forget that Russia has long sent troops to Syria, and Saudi Arabia has been secretly supporting Syrian rebels.

Although China has nothing to do with the Syrian civil war, its relations with Russia are there, and it certainly does not want to see its own missiles destroy Russian tanks.

As a result, Huaxia only promised to sell the "low-profile version" that Saudi Arabia looked down on.

After many arduous negotiations, it was not until two years ago, when Wang Dong went to Saudi Arabia to open a factory and prepare to sell new firearms to Saudi Arabia, that the Chinese authorities relented, and only agreed to sell HJ-12 in disguise, that is, to cooperate with Pakistan and have Pakistan act as an agent to sell HJ-12 foreign trade models.

Of course, there is also the code name "RA-12".

As for the suffix "ER", that is the meaning of "extended range", that is, the range has been increased from 2,000 meters to 4,000 meters.

Although it is sold by Pakistan, the RA-12ER sold to Saudi Arabia is all produced in Huaxia, and its main performance is no different from the HJ-12 used by Huaxia.

According to the contract, Saudi Arabia spent $2.2 billion to buy 1,000 launchers and 10,000 missiles.

Obviously, this price is not cheap at all.

In order to get the missiles as soon as possible, Saudi Arabia has already paid $1 billion.

By the time the civil war broke out in Iraq, Saudi Arabia had acquired about 300 launchers and 3,000 missiles, but more than half of them had already been used.

Let's not forget that the Saudi-led coalition forces of the Arab League have been fighting in Yemen.

Because the contract clearly stipulates that these missiles can only be used by the Saudi army and cannot be provided to third parties without permission, the RA-12ER is all used to equip the Saudi army fighting in Yemen to replace the "Hoth" and "Milan" missiles.

In fact, most of the RA-12ERs obtained by Saudi Arabia are equipped with high-explosive warheads mainly used to deal with fortifications.

Quite simply, the Yemeni Houthis do not have armored weapons, and the main ones that need to be dealt with with anti-tank missiles are fortifications, such as machine-gun fortresses.

Of course, there are also a few missiles equipped with tandem armor-piercing warheads.

Wang Dong: What they brought was this kind of missile.

Assisting Iraqi government forces in defending Nasiriyah had to deal with rebel tanks and combat vehicles, and the rebels in offensive positions did not have time to build fortifications.

The RA-12ER is advanced, but not flawless.

If there's one downside, it's speed.

Because it is a man-made anti-tank missile, in order to control the weight of the system and ensure that it has sufficient power, it must also be equipped with advanced guidance equipment, and the range cannot be short, so it cannot be equipped with a rocket engine with greater thrust, and the flight speed of the missile is naturally not much faster.

It takes almost 10 seconds to fly more than 2,000 meters.

Fortunately, the RA-12ER uses an infrared imaging guidance seeker and has the ability to attack autonomously, that is, after the shooter locks on to the target, the missile can automatically fly to the target without the need for the shooter's control, so the shooter can be transferred immediately after launching the missile.

In addition, when dealing with heavily armored targets such as tanks, the RA-12ER uses a top-attack mode.

After the missile is launched, it first climbs to a high altitude, gets close to the target, and then dives to attack, hitting the top armor of the tank.

None of the top armor of a tank was able to withstand a direct attack from an anti-tank missile.

It's not that the RA-12ER isn't powerful enough, its tandem armor-piercing warhead can penetrate steel plates up to 1.2 meters thick, and it can destroy all tanks of today's fleet from the front.

The top-attack mode is used more to avoid the active interception system of the tank.

Of course, the M1A1 against the rebels is completely unnecessary, since these US-supplied main battle tanks do not have an active interception system.