In fact, Pakistan has been actively seeking cooperation with China to join the FC-31 project in the form of joint research and development.

It's just that, as mentioned earlier, at the beginning, Huaxia was not very enthusiastic, or the development team of the FC-31 was not very enthusiastic about export.

As for joint development, there are also problems.

What's the problem?

How much can Pakistan provide for R&D?

It is important to know that there must be technology transfer in joint research and development, so when discussing, the first thing that needs to be considered is the investment of all parties.

To put it bluntly, the level of participation and the ultimate level of technology transfer are determined by the level of funding.

If you don't have enough money, you won't get too much technology.

Obviously, Pakistan can't come up with much money.

It's just that among the friendly countries of Pakistan, there are really a lot of local tyrants.

Long before the outbreak of the Iraqi civil war, Saudi Arabia and other Arab League countries showed strong interest in the FC-31 project, and all hoped to become the developer through Pakistan.

To put it simply, it is to pay for the completion of the FC-31 and obtain technology transfer after it is developed.

It's just that in the previous years, it didn't go very well.

After the end of the civil war in Iraq, the enthusiasm of Saudi Arabia and other countries has decreased considerably.

Why?

Lack of money.

After such a big war, and it is urgent to purchase so much main battle equipment to supplement the losses, even the local tyrant country does not have the extra funds to engage in research and development.

If the FC-31 is a ready-made shipment, then the Saudis will definitely purchase a few dozen.

The problem was that the FC-31 at that time still had only two prototypes, let alone the formation of combat effectiveness, and it was a question of when the basic design could be completed.

Obviously, it is certainly unrealistic to let Saudi Arabia throw billions of dollars in, and then wait for another ten or eight years.

The most important thing is that at this time, he killed a Cheng Biting Jin.

It is not the United States that promised to sell the F-35A to Saudi Arabia, but another fourth-generation fighter from Huaxia, and it is aimed at the export market.

What fighter?

J-30。

At that time, it was publicly known as the JF-30.

What kind of fighter is this?

It is a medium-sized fighter with a reduced design on the basis of the J-20 from the aviation development and production enterprises that produced the J-10 and J-20.

To put it simply, it is actually a single-shot version of the J-20.

The appearance of the JF-30 immediately aroused great interest in Pakistan.

You must know that Pakistan's JF-17 was jointly developed with this enterprise, and the JF-20 developed from the J-10 has successfully opened up the international market.

More importantly, the J-20 of the enterprise is the only heavy fourth-generation aircraft in China.

Although it is a single-engine version of the medium-sized machine, the genes derived from the J-20 and the company's always good reputation make it too attractive.

The result?

Pakistan immediately ended negotiations with another Chinese company, stopped focusing on the FC-31 and began contacts on the joint development and production of the JF-30.

In fact, the JF-30 itself was developed on the basis of export.

The designation "JF" is actually for Pakistan's export fighters.

The Pakistan Air Complex, that is, PSA, immediately sent people to Huaxia, and the Pakistan Air Force also came forward in time, expressing extremely strong interest in the JF-30.

Next, the Pakistani prime minister went to China and personally proposed to the Chinese leaders that he hoped to develop the JF-30 on the model of the JF-17.

What mode?

It was jointly developed by Huaxia and Pakistan, and the main equipment was provided by Huaxia, but the JF-30 was marketed to the international market in the name of Pakistan.

This time, Pakistan also showed good faith by agreeing to bear one-third of the development costs.

Of course, that's not much.

It's just that, with Pakistan's national strength, it is already the limit to be able to spend billions of dollars to develop fighter jets.

In addition, Huaxia bears more research and development costs, which means that in the future, when exporting, it can get more returns in the form of technology licensing.

It was also in that year that the first prototype of the JF-30 rolled off the assembly line.

Because of the experience in developing the J-20, coupled with the fact that there was a lot of ready-made technology from the J-20, the preliminary development of the JF-30 went very smoothly.

The first engineering aircraft has already reached a high level.

Now, it's not just Pakistan that's interested.

When Pakistan basically reached an agreement with Huaxia on the joint development of the JF-30, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait began to contact Huaxia one after another, not only expressing their willingness to purchase the JF-30, but also putting forward the idea of participating in the joint development by means of funding.

Pakistan doesn't have money, but these countries do.

Of course, the funding for research and development is only to ensure that the JF-30 can be bought, and it is better to obtain a production license.

In addition, only sufficient funds can ensure the successful completion of the JF-30.

To be precise, it is actually to speed up the development progress.

You know, with Loma's pulsating production line reaching its maximum capacity, the production of F-35 has exceeded 1,000 aircraft, and the export scale has exceeded 300 aircraft.

If the JF-30 drags on for a few more years, I am afraid that the United States will relax the export restrictions on the F-35A.

When the time comes, it is perhaps, that the technology will be transferred to India, so that India can assemble the F-35A on its own.

In addition, the Russian Su-57 project is also accelerating, which is expected to reach service status in the coming years, and Iran will definitely become the first country to import the Su-57.

All in all, whether it is Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Arab League countries, they are in urgent need of fourth-generation fighters.

Although the FC-31 is more mature, Pakistan's attitude has influenced almost all Arab League countries, making Saudi Arabia and other countries turn their attention to the JF-30.

Actually, there is a very key factor in this.

That is, Saudi Arabia and other countries do not actually have the ability to produce or even assemble fighter jets independently, so even if they get the technical authorization of JF-30 in the future, they must cooperate with Pakistan, that is, through Pakistan to produce and assemble JF-30, so they have to follow Pakistan.

In addition, sensitive equipment for use on the JF-30, again, is available only to Pakistan.

Since we have to rely on Pakistan, we naturally have to respect Pakistan's choice.

Besides, for decades, the Pakistan Air Force has chosen the most suitable fighter jets, and has never bought some fighter jets that look good and are not easy to use.

After more than a year of negotiations, Huaxia finally adopted the proposal put forward by Pakistan.

Establish a joint research and development and production unit with Huaxia enterprises and Pakistani enterprises as the core, with Saudi Arabia and other countries joining and becoming shareholders in the form of capital contributions, to jointly promote the development and production of JF-30 to ensure that this fighter can reach service status within five years.

To develop a fourth-generation aircraft in five years?

Obviously, apart from China, I am afraid that no country can really do it.

In fact, this point also determines that it must be JF-30.

Why?

The technical state of the FC-31 will certainly not be able to reach service standards within five years, and only the JF-30, which has a large number of mature J-20 technologies, will have this possibility.