Back on February 4-8, 2024, Saudi Arabia hosted an important defense exhibition. The area of the pavilion in our country reached a staggering 4,668 square meters, which is almost six times the size of the Russian pavilion.
Different from Russia's defense exhibition, Saudi Arabia's air show is more like a huge shopping mall, with all kinds of excellent equipment vying for display, hoping to attract a large number of orders.
Our country attaches great importance to this Saudi defense exhibition, especially in the area of the air combat system. We exhibited a variety of star equipment, including the J-31 fighter, the Y-20 transport aircraft, the Pterodactyl 10 drone, etc.
However, it is surprising that the high-profile J-31 fighter did not receive any orders. Although it sells for a whopping $60 million, it is not expensive among fifth-generation fighters, so why is it in such a dilemma?
It is clear that the performance of the J-31 fighter at the Saudi Defense Exhibition is not due to its performance or first-class reasons, as a recognized fifth-generation stealth fighter.
The overall performance of the J-31 fighter has basically reached the level of the foreign trade version of the American F35 fighter. We intend not only to gain a place in the international market of fifth-generation fighters, but also in accordance with the strategic direction of development of our Navy.
In the future, the PLA Navy has the need to purchase the J-31 fighter for its own use (that is, the J-35) as a carrier-based aircraft, so the J-31 fighter is not only China's foreign trade fighter, but also a carrier-based aircraft model suitable for the Chinese Navy.
The J-31 fighter project and the J-20 were basically launched at the same time, and after years of accumulation and development, the fighter may now have reached a fairly high level.
Despite the relatively little information about the J-31, there is reason to believe that in some respects it may even surpass the F35 in terms of performance.
At present, there are very few fifth-generation fighters sold in the international market, and the only one on sale is the American F35. At this defense exhibition, in addition to China's J-31 fighters, Russia also displayed Su-75 fighters.
The fighter is comparable to the American F35 and is a single-engine fighter, which is significantly different from the twin-engine J-31. Whether it is the Su-75 or the F35, compared with China's J-31 fighter, they are on a different development track.
As a fifth-generation fighter with a twin-engine engine, the price of the J-31 is basically the same as that of some fourth-generation and half-generation fighters, and it has a fairly high cost performance.
However, the J-31 fighter encountered some unfavorable conditions at the Saudi defense exhibition, which raised some questions. First of all, although the J-31 may be very cost-effective, this is only a theoretical number.
Since it has not yet been tested in actual combat, even if the Chinese People's Liberation Army itself is not equipped with this type of fighter, other countries do not dare to act rashly. It's like buying a blind box.
Despite the fact that the ** of the J-31 may be very attractive, the rich countries of the Middle East are not "fools", they understand the risks and pros and cons.
The entire international market is being placed in front of countries around the world, and the United States has not yet expressed its willingness to provide fifth-generation fighters to Saudi Arabia and other countries.
However, if China is interested in getting involved in the fifth-generation fighter market in the Middle East, it will be difficult for wealthy countries, including Saudi Arabia, to avoid it.
Instead of buying the J-31 fighter in a blind box way, it is better to wait for the fighter to be fully tested and equipped by the PLA, and then continue to optimize before purchasing.
The rich countries of the Middle East have shown considerable wisdom, they are not indifferent to our J-31, but they are well aware that even if they do not buy it now, China will still provide opportunities to buy it in the future.
Therefore, they chose to wait patiently, believing that over time, the performance of the J-31 fighter may be improved even more. In fact, at the Saudi Defense Exhibition, our expectations for the J-31 fighter order were not too high.
It is more to lay the foundation for the subsequent expansion of the international market, after all, it can be unveiled at any time, so that countries have more options when considering the introduction of fifth-generation fighters.
In addition, it is worth noting that the American F35 fighter has established an excellent reputation in the international market and is recognized by many countries.
Although there is still debate about the superiority and inferiority of the J-31 and F35, the latter is proven in practice and widely recognized as an excellent piece of equipment, even if the F35 performs poorly.
Many countries prefer to choose the F35 over the J-31 out of a conservative mentality, and some people may ask, don't Saudi Arabia and other countries have the possibility of buying the F35, do they have to wait forever?
For the Saudis, they may not hold that view. After all, the United States has already exported a special version of the F15 fighter to them, so it is not impossible for them to introduce the F35 fighter in the future.
As a typical U.S.-style equipment user, Saudi Arabia recognizes the quality of U.S. products, so it is a reasonable choice that they prefer to choose F35 fighters rather than FC31 fighters.
Considering the international political environment, if Saudi Arabia openly purchases China's FC31 fighters, it may cause dissatisfaction from the United States. In the current international political atmosphere, Saudi Arabia has not yet had the courage to completely break with the United States.
Therefore, we have to be cautious about the J-31 fighter, and some friends may be worried about whether this means that the J-31 fighter will lose the opportunity in the international market.
However, it is worth noting that the $60 million fighter jet is too expensive for many developing countries, and rich countries like Saudi Arabia have reservations, which makes the FC31 face the question of where to go.
In response to this concern, we can only advise everyone to be patient and see how things develop. At present, the United States alone dominates the fifth-generation fighter market, which does restrict the access of other countries, but the future direction is still difficult to predict.
The strong state of the United States cannot last forever, and their national strength will eventually decline and they will no longer be able to support their global strategy. At the same time, China's rise is unstoppable.
As long as China is strong enough in the future, even if the performance of the F-31 fighter is poor, there will be countries coming to buy it.
This implies that a country's diplomatic status and strength are closely related. This is clearly evident in some recent events.
For example, at the recently held second Saudi Arabian World Defense Exhibition, China's aviation industry displayed a variety of equipment, which attracted a lot of attention.
This demonstration is not only an affirmation of China's technological strength, but also a manifestation of its competitiveness in the global military market.
At the show, China's equipment on display included the F-31 fighter, which, despite the controversial performance, still aroused interest in various countries.
This suggests that for some countries, they may value China's strength as a powerful manufacturing nation more than just the performance of a single piece of equipment.
It can be seen from some reports that Saudi Arabia and other countries have shown a strong interest in the military equipment displayed by China, and this interest is behind this interest.
Perhaps these countries want to improve their defense capabilities by buying Chinese equipment, or they may want to establish closer military cooperation with China.
Therefore, the notion that weak countries have no diplomacy is not unfounded. A country's strength and status directly determine its voice and influence in international relations.
As a growing country, China's competitiveness in the global military equipment market is becoming more and more prominent.
In this case, even if the performance of some equipment is not outstanding, as long as China itself is strong enough, it can still attract the attention and purchase willingness of other countries.