Recently, Saudi Arabia intends to make another large-scale military purchase, planning to purchase more than 50 new fighters. For such a buyer who only looks at performance and does not consider **, global premium fighter manufacturers have shown great interest. Due to the sharp deterioration of relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia in recent years, as well as the desire of Saudi Arabia to diversify its military equipment, it is likely that American-made fighters will not be considered. At the same time, Russian-made fighter jets have not always been the first choice for Saudi Arabia, so European and Chinese fighter jets have become the only option. However, what is shocking is that China's fighter jets did not participate in this military purchase, which also exposes a weak link in the field of China's first-class trade exports, that is, the lack of export-oriented twin-engine heavy fighter products. Saudi Arabia may choose to buy a French-made Rafale twin-engine medium fighter, perhaps even 54 at once (the Saudi Air Force currently has a large number of Typhoon fighters).
At present, the main fighters of the Saudi Arabian Air Force are the F-15SA and the "Typhoon", of which the number of "Typhoon" fighters has reached 72, which indicates that Saudi Arabia prefers twin-engine, high-performance fighters. A few years ago, Saudi Arabia planned to purchase the second batch of Typhoon fighters, but this plan was vetoed by Germany for political reasons. Similarly, in addition to Saudi Arabia, Turkey was also unable to buy European-made "Typhoon" fighters due to Germany's opposition, and had to turn its attention to the "Thunder" fighter jointly developed by China and Pakistan. However, Germany's refusal did not allow orders to flow to China, but was successfully picked up by France. The key reason is that Saudi Arabia has a lot of money, and it prefers high-end twin-engine heavy fighters, and is not interested in single-engine fighters, even if there are no heavy fighters to choose from, it will also choose twin-engine medium fighters. However, on the "shelf" of China's first export field, there are no such mature products to choose from for the time being.
At present, China's main export fighters are the Thunder, J-10 and L-15, but the lack of export-oriented twin-engine heavy fighters can be said to be a big regret in the field of China's first-class fire exports. At present, the popular "Thunder" and J-10C fighters in the international market are single-engine fighters. Single-engine fighters are favored by many customers due to their lower fuel consumption, natural advantages in operating costs, and at the same time not inferior to twin-engine fighters of the same period in terms of air combat capabilities. However, due to its larger size, twin-engine fighters have the advantages of long range, large bomb load, large radar caliber, etc., and one more engine also means higher survivability. For wealthy countries, twin-engine fighters tend to be the preferred combat equipment. In addition, for a "oil hegemon" country like Saudi Arabia, the shortcomings of twin-engine fighters such as high fuel consumption, high unit price, and high maintenance costs are actually not a problem.
Due to the size advantage of the twin-engine heavy fighter, the range and bomb load have been greatly improved). From China's point of view, China's heavy fighters, except for the J-20, which cannot be exported, are basically J-11, J-15 and J-16 series improved from the Su-27. Although the performance of these domestically produced "Sukhoi" has surpassed the original version, due to some kind of license restrictions or tacit agreement on arms sales between the two countries, they have not been included in the export list, forming a "blank". In fact, whether it is the "Typhoon", "Rafale" or the F-15 modification, they are not necessarily superior to the latest J-16 in terms of performance. With its advanced active phased array radar and ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles, the J-16 has formed an overwhelming advantage in both detection range and strike distance.
Moreover, considering that Saudi Arabia is also a traditional high-quality customer of the Chinese industry, and the two sides have successful cooperation experience in projects such as "Dongfeng Express" and rainbow drones, if China has a fighter model that meets Saudi Arabia's requirements, then Saudi Arabia will naturally actively consider buying. (China-Saudi Arabia arms sales cooperation has always been high-standard, if there is a suitable fighter model, Saudi Arabia will definitely be happy to buy). In the near future, Saudi Arabia may purchase Rafale F4 fighters. This fighter is equipped with advanced active phased array radar, helmet display, infrared optoelectronic system and other equipment, which are also used in J-16 fighters. Some people believe that because the phased array radar antenna size is too small, the detection range of the "Rafale" may be shorter than that of similar products, only slightly stronger than the Japanese F-2 fighter, and the performance may be far behind the J-16.
At the same time, the French company Dassault is also developing the "Rafale" F5 model, in which phased array radar and other equipment will be further upgraded, and it will be able to cooperate with the "Neuron" stealth UAV. However, such fighters will not be equipped with the French Air Force until 2030 at the earliest, so Saudi Arabia will have to wait longer. (From the point of view of performance, the purchase of the Rafale by the Saudis can only be said to be improvised, and may not meet their expectations). From these circumstances, it can be seen that China may have missed this opportunity for arms sales, which is indeed a pity, but it should not be overly demanding. To put it another way, fewer and fewer countries can afford to buy and operate twin-engine fighters, and even the United States can only use single-engine F-35 fighters as the main force. With the rise of drones on the battlefield, coupled with the ability of small and medium-sized countries to have advanced anti-aircraft missiles, the value of heavy fighters is not as high as it used to be.
China's current foreign trade fighter model is more suitable for use in larger small and medium-sized countries. It should be emphasized that heavy fighters also need the support of advanced combat systems. With the support of advanced systems, the J-10CE and UAVs can often play a greater role, even enough to defeat heavy fighters such as the F-15SA. Therefore, we can plan from the perspective of system operations in the field of export and find another way to make up for the foreign trade gap of twin-engine heavy fighters.