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Israel's unprecedented airstrike in Doha, Qatar, on Sep 9,2025, and failure of Qatar's radar system that uses U.S. supplied patriot missile defense systems to detect and help intercept the missiles, exposed the limitation of U.S. defense technology. This was not due to technical reasons rather political complexities. Due to this event in Qatar, KSA realised that sole reliance on the U.S. defense system comes with similar threats in future and is insufficient to guarantee security.
USA has been KSA’s predominant defense partner but USA’s restriction and refusal to sell unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (“The Saudi-Sino Military Partnership: Ambitious or Overhyped?”) Gulf states promoted the Saudi-Chinese ties. China offered affordable and advanced UAVs and ballistic missile systems to Saudi Arabia. KSA also acquired licenses and domestic drones production facilities with the help of China.
When Chinese J-10 fighters downed advanced French made Rafaels in the May 25 Pak-India war, the combat effectiveness of advanced Chinese jets was exhibited which didn’t come into real play in the recent past while the U.S. had decades of combat experience.
KSA’s arsenal has a substantial number of U.S. made weaponry including missiles and jets. Even if KSA acquires advanced Chinese J-10 fighter jets, which depend on integrated systems, they are incompatible with US made Patriot missile defense systems as they cannot communicate with American radar(Xiaotong 2025) This left KSA with two choices: either purchase most of the weapons from China or remain dependent on U.S. weapons. This is where Pakistan comes to play. The SMDA gave this liberation to KSA to keep the U.S. weaponry and also get the defence by advanced Chinese fighter jets.
“The Protection of Harmain” is just to attach religious sentiment to this pact. KSA wants Chinese military hardware in return for financial aid to Pakistan.
The undertone of this pact is to get that military backup and acquire the advanced technology to improve its defense system and reduce the historic reliance solely on the USA.
Reference:
“The Saudi-Sino Military Partnership: Ambitious or Overhyped?” 2024. Gulf International Forum. https://gulfif.org/the-saudi-sino-military-partnership-ambitious-or-overhyped/.
Xiaotong, Yang. 2025. “Why China cannot sway Saudi Arabia to shift away from US weapons.” amwaj.media. https://amwaj.media/en/article/why-china-cannot-sway-saudi-arabia-to-shift-away-from-us-weapons.
