In recent years, the performance of domestic equipment in the international market has become more and more eye-catching, especially in the Middle East, and many countries have expressed interest in China's best equipment, including Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, etc. Their needs cover many fields such as 052DE destroyers, J-10C fighters, various types of UAVs and anti-tank **. These countries are seeking to get rid of the shackles of the dollar and find a more independent and autonomous development path, and domestic equipment just meets their needs, both cost-effective, and technologically advantaged, and free from political interference by Western countries.
The United States** has also taken note of this trend, with reports that Saudi Arabia plans to buy 81 J-10Cs and even rumors that Saudi Arabia will hire Pakistani pilots to fly these fighters. However, the authenticity of these news has yet to be confirmed, because Saudi Arabia still has a large number of F-15 fighter jets, and if the J-10C is introduced, it will face two completely different logistics systems, which is a big burden for Saudi Arabia. In contrast, Saudi Arabia is more likely to purchase domestic drones on a large scale in the future, because drones and manned aircraft are two different systems, which will not cause logistical conflicts, and can effectively improve Saudi Arabia's air combat capabilities, which is a more reasonable choice.
Of course, the Saudis will not give up the pursuit of fifth-generation aircraft, but at the moment they cannot get the F-35 from the United States, and they do not want to continue to rely on the dollar. As a result, Saudi Arabia may consider introducing the J-35, a domestically produced stealth fighter that, although still under development, is expected to be put into service in the next few years. The J-35 can replace Saudi Arabia's existing Western fighter jets, avoid logistical troubles, and can also help Saudi Arabia achieve its goal of de-dollarization. As for the issue of pilots, Saudi Arabia can learn from Pakistan's practice and hire some experienced Pakistani pilots, who can quickly adapt to the operation of domestic fighters, after all, they have upgraded from FC-1 to J-10C, and they are also equipped with the same "fly helmet" as the J-20.
Compared with Saudi Arabia, Egypt is more likely to introduce J-10C, because the current situation of the Egyptian Air Force is very bad, they have various fighters from China, the United States, France and Russia, but none of them have any combat effectiveness. Among them, the domestically produced J-6 7 has been basically retired, and only some K-8 trainers remain. The Russian MiG-29M is a model that even India does not want, the American F-16 is a castrated version, the air-to-air missile is still semi-active radar-guided, and it is simply not able to confront modern fighters, and the French Mirage is also old, and only 30 Rafale are still somewhat combat-effective. In short, of the more than 400 fighters in Egypt, only 30 Rafale are equipped with AESA radars, and the others are inferior to Pakistan's Thunder.
Therefore, it is necessary for Egypt to introduce the J-10CE, which is a domestic fighter equipped with AEAS phased array radar, its performance is comparable to Rafale, and it is cheaper, and Egypt can buy more combat power for the same money. Moreover, Egypt and China have long-term friendly and cooperative relations, and they are also confident in the quality of domestic fighters.
To sum up, as the relationship between countries in the Middle East and the United States is becoming more and more estranged, there are more and more opportunities for domestic equipment in the Middle East market, but the specific details of cooperation need to be further negotiated. However, it can be seen from the report of the United States ** that UAVs, J-10C and 052DE are the most concerned domestic equipment, even if no final agreement has been reached, but a pro-China atmosphere has been formed in the Middle East, which is beneficial to the foreign trade of domestic equipment, I believe that in the near future, we will see domestic equipment shine in the Middle East.