It can be said that Saudi Arabia's purchase of J-10D is the most influential arms trade in the Gulf region in the past two years.

From a strategic point of view, this arms trade has directly kicked off the arms race in the Gulf region, and Saudi Arabia has become the frontrunner.

Dozens of J-10Ds with anti-aircraft suppression capabilities have allowed Saudi Arabia to gain absolute air superiority for the first time.

Why?

According to the exercises conducted by the Royal Saudi Air Force, with the support of these dozens of J-10Ds, they can defeat the air defense of any neighboring country within a few days and gain absolute air supremacy, and the so-called neighboring countries actually mainly refer to Iran in the north.

If you really want to fight, I'm afraid this is really the result.

Why?

In the first few years, the pilots of these J-10Ds were all appointed by Angu Aviation Services, and all of them were retired pilots from China.

Obviously, the fighter planes produced by Huaxia pilots flying by Huaxia pilots are bound to be handy.

In fact, in order to take care of these pilots, the first batch of J-10D even adopted the flight control software of the Huaxia Air Force, and all the operation interfaces were in Chinese characters.

More importantly, Huaxia arms dealers have adhered to the fine tradition of delivering goods on time, in accordance with quality and quantity.

In order to get these fighters as soon as possible, the Saudi military even offered an incentive contract, that is, as long as the aircraft factory in Huaxia can deliver them ahead of schedule, they can get a bonus.

As a result, less than half a year after the signing of the contract, the Saudis received the first batch of 8 J-10Ds of the first batch.

At the delivery ceremony, the commander of the Saudi Air Force highly praised the "Huaxia speed".

You know, if you purchase fighters from European and American countries, even if there are no special requirements, and the public version is purchased, it will take several years to be delivered.

Globally, the only aircraft factory in China that can deliver the first batch of fighters within a year is probably the Huaxia aircraft factory.

Now, Iran is in an awkward position.

At the time when Saudi Arabia acquired these 8 J-10Ds, the main force of the Iranian Air Force was 30 Su-30Ms.

It's all second-hand!

After the end of the Iraqi civil war, Wang Dong learned that the Su-30M that Russia provided to Iran at that time were actually second-hand fighters that had been used for several years.

Because of the urgent need for advanced fighter jets, Iran can only accept second-hand goods from Russia.

Obviously, the Su-30M is at most capable of dealing with the Saudi EF2000 and F-15SA, and Iran does not have a fighter comparable to the J-10D.

What to do?

In desperation, Iran can only purchase a batch of second-hand fighter jets from Russia again, and this time it is an even older Su-24.

It's just that these Su-24s have made the necessary improvements.

According to Russian propaganda, this is an anti-aircraft suppression fighter specially tailored for Iran that can destroy any kind of air defense system in the world today.

Obviously, this is just bragging.

Not to mention Iran, even Russia itself does not believe it.

Let's not forget that the Su-24 is actually a fighter-bomber, not a fighter at all, and no matter how it is improved, it cannot be an air defense suppression fighter.

Why?

Russia simply does not have anti-aircraft suppression fighters in the true sense of the word.

In fact, the key to air defense suppression fighters is not the fighter itself, but the weapons and equipment, especially electronic equipment, specially developed for carrying out air defense suppression combat missions.

An excellent anti-aircraft suppression fighter requires at least 2 electronic warfare pods, as well as 2 anti-radiation missiles.

The latter is not much difficult.

The key is the former.

It can be said that on a global scale, only China, the United States, and Russia can develop and produce special electronic warfare pods, which can only be regarded as self-defense pods at best, which are used to interfere with ground-based radars, and cannot be used to suppress ground-based radars in air defense suppression operations.

Obviously, where is a professional anti-aircraft suppression fighter without a dedicated electronic warfare pod?

Take EA-18G as an example, when performing air defense suppression tasks, it carries three pods and two missiles, and uses electronic suppression as the main means of combat.

In fact, the J-10D is the same, it is also a three-plus-two plug-in mode, but it can carry four anti-radiation missiles when necessary to enhance the hard destruction capability.

As for the Su-24, it is clear that it does not have such combat capabilities.

It is this, after the purchase of several dozen used Su-24s, Iran turned its attention to the Su-34s.

If Russia really has a fighter suitable for performing the task of air defense suppression, it is actually the Su-34.

The point is that the Su-34 is large enough to be able to fit a large number of electronics inside, especially those bulky ones of Russian production.

In addition, the Su-34 is extremely capable of carrying bombs, carrying up to 13 tons of bombs!

On the Syrian battlefield, the Su-34 has long been the main striking force of Russia.

Iran also sent pilots to Syria, had the experience of flying the Su-34 in combat, and praised this fighter-bomber.

Since negotiations on the purchase of Su-35B have never been able to achieve a breakthrough, Iran has changed its tactics and first seeks to acquire a batch of Su-34s.

Actually, it's second-hand.

It's just that Russia was much more generous this time and sold a batch of Su-34s to Iran at a second-hand price.

Of course, also dealing with a surplus of fighters.

Why?

After several years of fighting in Syria, the Russian Aerospace Forces have long found that the Su-34 is a bit big and inappropriate, that is, when fighting enemies such as extremist groups, the combat efficiency of the Su-34 is not high, but the cost is extremely expensive, and sometimes it is not as cost-effective as using the Su-24 and Su-25.

In fact, in later years, the Russian Aerospace Forces rarely used the Su-34.

In many cases, the Su-30M will be able to complete the combat missions of the Su-34.

As for the fact that in a large-scale war, the Su-34 is no less of limited value.

Because it is a third-generation fighter, the Su-34 may not be able to survive in future high-intensity wars, and it may not be able to effectively complete the strike mission.

The problem is that the Russian Aerospace Forces have already purchased hundreds of Su-34s in one go.

If nothing else, just to maintain and maintain these "platypus", the Russian Aerospace Forces will spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

For the Russian Aerospace Forces, which is already not well funded, this is not a lot of money, enough to purchase several more valuable Su-35Bs.

Since Iran is willing to take over, it will be sold to Iran.

Of course, only second-hand fighters were sold at low prices.

Since then, Iran has also spent more than a billion dollars to modernize the 30 Su-34s it bought, mainly by adding electronic warfare equipment.

Even so, the Su-34 is not a real anti-aircraft suppression fighter.

The key point is that the lack of special electronic warfare equipment often makes it impossible to effectively strike at the enemy's air defense systems when carrying out the task of air defense suppression.

Interestingly, Iran later also tried to procure electronic warfare equipment from China to improve the Su-34.

It's a pity that the subsystem of the J-10D is incompatible with the Su-34 and belongs to a different system, so even if China is willing to sell it, Iran will not use it.