Entering the aviation field through "Angu Aviation Service" can be regarded as a second move, but it is also an unintentional move.

In the King Salman Military Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, D&F Saudi Aircraft has been established and entered the aviation industry market a year ago.

It's just that it starts with maintenance.

What does this company do?

Repair and maintenance services for the JF-17s of the Iraqi Defence Forces (IDF) are provided on a package contract that provides lifetime coverage for these fighters.

In addition, Kuwait also became a user of the JF-17.

Following the end of the Iraqi civil war, Kuwait procured 20 JF-17s to replace the combat aircraft lost during the Iraqi civil war.

In fact, Kuwait has not lost many aircraft, but quite a few fighters have reached service life.

Although Kuwait is also rich, it is too small for the need for air power, i.e., the size of the Kuwaiti Air Force is not large.

According to the original plan, Kuwait intends to choose one of the Su-35B, F/A-18E/F, EF2000, F-15SK and Rafale to supplement the fleet, and the most popular is the Su-35B, which was not favored before, and Kuwait seems expected to become the first Gulf country to use Russian fighter jets.

However, the deal was finally negotiated.

It's not that Kuwait can't afford to pay for it, it's that Russia doesn't want to sell.

Why?

Kuwait has proposed a purchase of only 10 aircraft, with a maximum of 12 aircraft, and has requested a full set of weapons and maintenance equipment from Russia.

Kuwait also gave a clear statement for such a small number of purchases.

The country is too small to really use many heavy fighters, and on the territory of Kuwait there are simply no bases for the deployment of dozens of heavy fighters.

Obviously, such a small number of purchases finally made Russia choose to give up.

Why?

If the Su-35B is sold to Kuwait, do you still want to do business with Iran?

It is clear that as soon as Kuwait acquires the Su-35B, the Arab League countries will know everything about this fighter, and Iran will most likely abandon it.

You know, if Iran becomes a user of the Su-35B, the number of purchased aircraft will be dozens, or even hundreds.

In comparison, the 10 purchased by Kuwait is too small.

In fact, Kuwait's purchase of the Su-35B is aimed at Iran.

Among several Arab League countries, Kuwait's relations with Russia are quite acceptable, and some weapons and equipment have been purchased from Russia before.

In addition, Saudi Arabia is also secretly supporting Kuwait.

According to Wang Dong's knowledge, Crown Prince Mohammed has long reached a secret agreement with the Kuwaiti royal family to provide half of the funds for the purchase of Su-35Bs, but there is an additional condition, the pilots of the "Angu Aviation Service" must fly these fighters, and regularly conduct sparring with the air forces of Saudi Arabia and other Arab League countries, that is, use these 10 Su-35Bs to form an imaginary enemy force of the Arab League countries.

It can be seen that if Russia sells the Su-35B to Kuwait, it will be stupid.

In addition, during the negotiations between Kuwait and Russia, Iran also took action, that is, it sent a representative to Huaxia to confirm its request to Huaxia to import J-10D, and even offered to directly purchase the production line of J-10D, expressing its willingness to exchange the right to exploit the largest oil field in China.

Obviously, Iran's move is aimed at putting pressure on Russia.

If Iran procures the J-10D, does it still need to buy the Su-35B?

Although the J-10D is a medium-sized fighter, at least in terms of volume, it cannot be compared with the Su-35B of a heavy fighter, but when it comes to specific performance, the biggest gap is actually only the combat radius and bomb load, and these two performances are not what the Iranian Air Force cares about the most.

The Persian Gulf is so wide, how much combat radius is needed?

Besides, important cities such as the capitals of several Arab League countries in the south are only a few hundred kilometers from Iran proper, so the combat radius of the J-10D is sufficient.

What's more, the combat radius is not enough, which can be compensated by installing a protective fuel tank and purchasing a tanker.

You know, Huaxia's aircraft factories have long begun to provide customers with similar services, that is, after the request of the customer, they can provide the J-10D with conformal fuel tanks.

As for tankers, after the start of mass production of the Y-20, Huaxia has been able to produce and export large tankers.

It can be seen that the combat radius itself is not too big a problem.

In terms of bomb load, it is also not a big problem.

The maximum bomb load of the J-10D reaches 6 tons, and there are five heavy load points, and it can also use four hardpoints located in the ribs to carry medium-range air-to-air missiles, which will not occupy heavy load points, so the J-10D has a bomb load of between 3 tons and 5 tons when performing ground strike missions.

It can be said that this bomb load is already not small.

Although the maximum bomb load of the Su-35B has reached 9 tons, which is fifty percent higher than that of the J-10D, the Su-35B actually has only five heavy load points, and the central heavy load point in the abdomen has strict restrictions on the size of the ammunition, and there is no semi-buried hardpoint specially used to mount air-to-air missiles, so when the Su-35B performs ground strike missions, the bomb load is also about 5 tons, which is not much higher than that of the J-10D.

In addition, in the era of precision-guided weapons, it is not necessary to carry too much ammunition.

It can be said that the bomb load of about 5 tons is enough for all operational needs.

If there must be any flaws, it is that when carrying heavy ammunition to carry out long-range strike missions, the J-10D is indeed inferior to the Su-35B, that is, the J-10D must carry the auxiliary fuel tank with three heavy load points, which can only be hung on two ammunition weighing less than 1 ton, while the Su-35B does not need to be hung in the auxiliary fuel tank when it is in the same combat radius, and can use 5 heavy load points to carry heavy ammunition.

It's just that the advantages of the J-10D are also outstanding, that is, the purchase price is cheaper, and the maintenance costs are much lower than those of the Su-35B.

In addition, the Huaxia can also provide a thrust of up to 143 kN, which is equivalent to the S-10C engine of the AL-41, thereby further increasing the thrust-to-weight ratio of the J-10D.

Of course, the biggest advantage of the J-10D is actually the electronics.

In the world, the J-10D is the only third-and-a-half-generation fighter equipped with advanced performance and extremely reliable AESA fire control radar, and the price is controlled within 100 million US dollars, and European and American countries are equipped with AESA's third-generation and semi-combat aircraft, none of which are sold for less than 100 million US dollars.

As for the Russian fighters, there is no AESA radar at all.

At that time, the Su-35B, which Russia vigorously promoted, was actually equipped with a passive phased array radar, which was much worse than the AESA radar in terms of performance.

It can be said that the radar alone is enough to make the J-10D the most advanced third-generation and a half fighter.

In addition, the J-10D is also the only fighter with air defense suppression capability that has been sold on the international market except for the EA-18G.

The point is that there are not many restrictions on the sale of the J-10D, while the EA-18G has clear restrictions.

It can be said that for a large number of countries that intend to procure anti-aircraft suppression fighters, there is hardly any other option than the J-10D.

It's just that Iran did not purchase J-10D in the end.

Why?