King Khalid Military City, Air Base.

After the last batch of two JF-17s landed on the runway, Musharraf got into the car, and in the distance, on the taxiway, there were more than two dozen fighters of the same type.

Crown Prince Mohammed personally intervened, and the result naturally goes without saying.

After emphasizing the traditional friendly relations between the two countries and mentioning that he would visit Islamabad in the near future, Crown Prince Mohammed got his wish.

Twenty-four JF-17 Thunderbolt fighters were stationed in King Khalid Military City ahead of schedule.

In order to ensure that these fighters could immediately carry out combat missions, the Royal Saudi Air Force sent four C-17s to Pakistan a day in advance, bringing in ground support equipment.

As for the ammunition, it was supplied by the Saudis.

In order to fly directly to King Khalid Military City, these JF-17s carried three large auxiliary fuel tanks, and were assisted by Saudi AWACS aircraft along the way.

Twenty-four JF-17s is not a lot, but it is enough to solve the urgent need.

Actually, the JF-17 is not a specialized attack aircraft.

In the Pakistan Air Force, the JF-17 is a multi-role fighter whose primary mission is to perform ground attack missions, followed by air supremacy missions.

In addition, the first two batches of 150 JF-17s were mainly used to carry out attack missions.

The key is that these two batches of JF-17 are equipped with Doppler radar, and the fire control software has not been upgraded, so they cannot use advanced air-to-air missiles imported from China, and their air supremacy is quite limited, and the Pakistan Air Force has dozens of F-16s, and there is no need for JF-17 to undertake air supremacy tasks for the time being.

The third batch of JF-17 is a real multi-role fighter.

After being equipped with the AESA, that is, the active phased array radar developed by Huaxia, the air combat performance of the third batch of JF-17 has been greatly enhanced.

With a radar with a maximum detection range of 180 kilometers and an SD-10 with a range of up to 120 kilometers, that is, the export medium-range air-to-air missile of the PL-12 used by China, the air combat capability of the JF-17 even exceeds that of the Indian Air Force's Su-30MKI at medium and long distances.

In fact, in addition to a slightly lower thrust-to-weight ratio and a shorter range, the JF-17Block-III. is already the strongest fighter in the Pakistan Air Force.

It is precisely for this reason that the Pakistan Air Force has increased the number of JF-17s to be purchased, and is preparing to upgrade the first two batches to the third batch.

With all 350 JF-17s installed and upgraded, the Pakistan Air Force will have the most powerful multi-role fighter force in South Asia.

It's just that the JF-17 is not a panacea.

As a typical light fighter, by the time of the third batch, the modification potential of the JF-17 had been exhausted, and the remaining room for improvement was extremely limited.

Obviously, the shortcomings of the light fighter are extremely prominent.

Not to mention anything else, just the combat radius makes it difficult for light fighters to surpass heavy fighters, and greatly limits the combat effectiveness of light fighters.

This is also the key to the fact that the Huaxia Air Force has never purchased FC-1, that is, JF-17.

Although the JF-17Block-III surpassed India's Su-30MKI in one fell swoop with AESA radar, it is completely incomparable with the heavy fighters of the Chinese Air Force, such as the J-11B, which is also equipped with AESA, let alone the J-10C and J-16 and other four and a half generations.

In addition, the Pakistan Air Force definitely needs a fighter that is somewhat larger and more combat-capable than the JF-17.

If not a heavy fighter, it should be a medium fighter of the F-16C class.

In fact, this is the main reason why Pakistan is jointly developing the JF-17 with Huaxia and is also simultaneously purchasing the F-16C/D.

The problem now is that the United States has sold the F-16C/D to India, and Loma has moved the only production line to India.

Putting aside the issue of price, will India sell the F-16C/D produced to Pakistan?

Of course, Pakistan will not purchase fighter jets equipped with India.

As a result, Rafale and Mig-29 were excluded from the shortlist.

Looking at the world, the only medium-sized fighters that can be said to be past are the EF2000 in Europe and the J-10 in Huaxia, and the F-35A that will never be sold to Pakistan.

And, of course, the FC-31 being developed by Huaxia.

The FC-31 has not even completed the test flight, and the finalized mass production will be a few years away at the earliest, and the official delivery may have to wait until ten years later.

Besides, fifth-generation fighters are too expensive for Pakistan to afford.

Because India has not acquired fifth-generation fighters for the time being, there is no urgent need for the Pakistani Air Force to immediately purchase fifth-generation fighters.

As a result, the EF2000 and J-10 remain.

Saudi Arabia has long purchased EF2000 and has been tested in Yemen, and the Pakistani Air Force has a deep knowledge of this fighter.

Strictly speaking, the EF2000 is actually a relatively simple air superiority fighter, and its multi-purpose performance is not outstanding.

When it comes to fighting the Houthis, the Royal Saudi Air Force prefers to use the soon-to-be-retired Tornado IDS rather than the EF2000.

Obviously, the Pakistan Air Force, limited by its size, will never spend a huge amount of money to purchase a purely air-supremacy fighter.

After going around in circles, the Pakistan Air Force finally fell in love with the Chinese J-10, but it was the latest model, that is, the J-10C.

According to the agreement signed more than two years ago, Pakistan will purchase 120 J-10Cs from Huaxia in batches, and will decide whether to order an additional 60 aircraft depending on the situation, to replace the 52 F-16C/Ds originally purchased from the United States, as well as the J-7PGs that are about to reach service life.

Of course, the Huaxia side also promised that after the delivery of the first batch of 40 aircraft, an assembly line of J-10C will be built in Pakistan, that is, the remaining 80 J-10Cs will be assembled in Pakistan, and the Pakistan Air Force will receive the ability to overhaul the J-10C.

Because the purchase quantity is limited, the export price of the plus J-10C is not cheap, so there is no need to build a production line in Pakistan.

The biggest problem is that Pakistan can't get that much foreign exchange.

You must know that even the Huaxia Air Force has a unit price of more than 200 million for the purchase of J-10C, which is equivalent to almost 30 million US dollars.

This is only the unit price of fighter jets, excluding ground service equipment and supporting weapons and ammunition.

Even if it relies on the status of "Pakistan Railway", the Pakistan Air Force has obtained an internal procurement price, and the unit price will not be less than 50 million US dollars based on the calculation of 120 aircraft.

That is, at least $6 billion is needed!

For the Pakistan Air Force, this price is definitely not cheap.

The unit purchase price of the JF-17 for the Pakistani army is only 15 million US dollars, and it includes after-sales support.

According to the budget obtained by the Pakistan Air Force, it will be able to purchase up to 60 J-10Cs, which will be able to replace more than 50 F-16C/Ds that are about to reach service life.

So, where to get the money for the purchase of another 60 J-10Cs?

At this time, Saudi Arabia came to the door.

Since Saudi Arabia promised to buy the JF-17 in service at the price of the third batch without considering depreciation, that is, at a unit price of 25 million US dollars, the Pakistan Air Force was naturally full of joy and immediately agreed, and was ready to make another profit with the help of modifying these fighters.

It is precisely because of this that Pakistan has delivered these fighter jets with pleasure.