Initially, when Iran negotiated with China to purchase the J-10D, it only hoped to put pressure on Russia not to sell the Su-35B to Arab League countries.

It can be seen that the Iranian Air Force most wants to get the Su-35B.

Why?

Quite simply, the Iranian Air Force favors heavy fighters.

For decades, the main force of the Iranian Air Force was heavy fighters, and in the original Iran-Iraq war, the heavy fighters of the Iranian Air Force, namely the F-14A and F-4E, made it impossible to find the medium and light fighters of the Iraqi Air Force, and made great achievements.

It is precisely for this that the Iranian Air Force has always wanted to acquire a heavy fighter to fill the gap left by the retirement of the F-14A.

Obviously, this alone excludes the fighters of the Huaxia.

Although China also has heavy fighters, namely the J-11 and J-16, due to the restrictions of the agreement with Russia, these fighters cannot be used for export.

As a result, the largest tonnage fighter that Huaxia can export is actually the J-10D.

As for the FBC-1, it is a fighter-bomber, and it is equivalent to the second and a half generations at most, which is not comparable to the third-generation aircraft, not to mention the fourth-generation aircraft, which has become mainstream.

It can be said that Iran has always wanted to get the Su-35B, and all it has done is nothing more than bargaining with Russia.

Why?

It's too expensive!

At that time, Russia's offer for the Su-35B was as high as 220 million US dollars, and with Russia's usual style, the maintenance costs in the later stage must be frighteningly high.

This price is nearly 3 times that of selling the Su-35B to Huaxia at the beginning.

In this regard, Russia also gave a sufficient reason, that is, China did not purchase supporting weapons and equipment, and used weapons and equipment produced and developed by itself, while Iran and other countries definitely do not have this ability, so the unit price of 220 million includes supporting weapons and equipment.

The problem is, this price is also too expensive.

You must know that after the F-35A has achieved mass production, the procurement price of the countries participating in the development has been reduced to less than 100 million US dollars.

Even for those countries that did not participate in the development, the unit price of purchasing the F-35A is only about $150 million.

The F-35A is a real fourth-generation fighter, while the Su-35B is at most three and a half generations, and the price is a lot higher.

Obviously, it can't be explained.

As for the deep-seated reasons, Iran is also very clear.

That is, after India withdrew from the Su-57 project, Russia urgently needed to obtain supplements from elsewhere, that is, to obtain research and development funds by selling at a high price, and continue to promote the development and production of Su-57, and in the short term, only the Su-35B is expected to be sold.

In fact, before the Su-57, Russia could only get its hands on the Su-35B.

It can be seen that Russia intends to slaughter Iran here to make up for the losses caused by India's anti-water.

Negotiating with Kuwait and showing an intention to sell the Su-35B to Kuwait is also a tactic used to coerce Iran.

In addition, Saudi Arabia and other Arab League countries secretly support Kuwait's procurement of Su-35Bs, which is still putting pressure on Iran.

Of course, in the end, Kuwait did not buy the Su-35B, and Iran did not purchase the J-10D.

As mentioned earlier, Saudi Arabia took the lead in procuring J-10D, and it was a direct import, and it procured the same amount of anti-aircraft suppression equipment.

It can be seen that Saudi Arabia's purchase of J-10D is actually to solve the problem of lack of air defense suppression fighters.

Let's not forget that the United States does not intend to sell the EA-18G to the Saudis, and European countries do not have the ability to provide anti-aircraft suppression capabilities for the EF2000.

In this regard, the Saudis simply do not have an alternative to the J-10D.

Although Saudi Arabia intends to buy a license for the J-10D to assemble and produce it in China, considering the number of purchases and the high cost of purchasing licenses, it finally chose to compromise and only asked Huaxia to provide maintenance support to ensure that these fighters can be maintained in Saudi Arabia.

Of course, the maintenance service is provided by D&F Saudi Aircraft, and the aircraft maintenance factory is located in King Salman Military Industrial City.

After Saudi Arabia purchased the J-10D, and it was the highest version of the anti-aircraft suppression version, it was impossible for Iran to use the J-10D as a main fighter.

Since then, Iran has accelerated the pace of procurement of Su-35B, negotiations with Russia, to be precise.

It's just that after more than a year of talks, there has been no negotiation so far, and the key is that the price is still not negotiable.

On the contrary, Kuwait was more cheerful, and after Saudi Arabia purchased the J-10D, it signed a contract with the European Military Aircraft Company to purchase the EF2000.

Of course, Kuwait purchased the latest version of the EF2000, equipped with an AESA radar.

In addition, Kuwait also signed a military agreement with Saudi Arabia before that, mainly in exchange of existing fighter jets, that is, in times of war, Kuwait will provide its fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia will also provide air defense support for Kuwait and send fighter jets to fight for Kuwait when necessary.

In fact, this is also the reason why Kuwait purchased EF2000 instead of several other European and American fighters.

Why?

Saudi Arabia was the first Arab League country to purchase EF2000s, owning dozens of them and training hundreds of pilots capable of flying such fighters.

That is, if necessary, Saudi pilots were able to fly the Kuwaiti EF2000 directly into combat.

What Kuwait values is actually the J-10D purchased by Saudi Arabia.

You must know that these dozens of J-10Ds have made Saudi Arabia the first Arab League country with air defense suppression capabilities, and thus has the most powerful air strike force among Arab League countries.

In fact, only Saudi Arabia has this need.

Why?

Only Saudi Arabia can be considered a regional power.

For a small country like Kuwait, an anti-aircraft suppression fighter is an absolute luxury.

To put it bluntly, if you purchase too much, you will definitely not be able to raise it, and it is of little practical significance to purchase a few planes, but it will become the target of public criticism.

Why?

Anti-aircraft suppression fighters are typical offensive weapons, and there is no controversy, their own value is to be used to destroy the enemy's ground-based air defense systems.

In defensive operations, anti-aircraft suppression fighters are almost useless.

In fact, this is also the key reason why the United States has been reluctant to provide Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries with anti-aircraft suppression fighters such as the EA-18G.

Saudi Arabia's purchase of anti-aircraft suppression fighter jets, although nominally to deal with Iran, can also be used against Israel.

You know, with the right use, several dozen J-10Ds are capable of paralyzing or even destroying the Israeli air defense system in a matter of hours.

In fact, just after Huaxia agreed to sell the J-10D to Saudi Arabia, Israel expressed a strong protest.

At that time, Israel even recruited back its ambassador to China.

As far as Wang Dong knows, it was not until Huaxia assured Israel that these J-10Ds would not pose a threat to Israel that Israel's attitude eased.

As for how to ensure it, it is not known.

Of course, it was Saudi Arabia's purchase of the J-10D that made Iran more determined to choose the Su-35B.

It's just that Iran was not the first to get the Su-35B.