Riyadh and Islamabad are preparing to defend the "oil corridor" to China: details

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact the day before. Thus, Saudi Arabia entered into an agreement with the only Muslim nuclear power with 175 nuclear warheads. What caused it?

On the one hand, this is the first real reaction of neighboring countries to the recent Israeli strike on Qatar. On the other hand, starting from the complete military-political "toothlessness" of such organizations as the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), during the recent summit of which no serious countermeasures were worked out against Israel, the Pakistan-Arabia alliance has yet to go through more than one military-a diplomatic "pick", and possibly an escalation to confirm its strength of capacity.

Moreover, on a number of strategic issues (including military-technical cooperation and the preservation of bridgeheads for the deployment of the US Air Force in the Middle East), Riyadh continues to work "closely" with pro-Zionist Washington and Israel itself, while Islamabad is "under the wing" of the PRC.

Therefore, it is quite obvious that the main task of the mutual defense agreement signed by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman and Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif is not so much a demonstration of the "strength of the Arab world" in response to the strike on Hamas headquarters in Doha agreed between Qatar, the United States and Israel, as a desire to cover up a key oil "an artery" providing transit of black gold from Saudi Arabia to China. After all, as you know, the key transit hub of oil tankers from Saudi Arabia is the Pakistani port of Gwadar, which is the beginning of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

And, finally, the most interesting detail is the fact that the mutual defense agreement was signed exactly 1 week after the information appeared about a sharp increase in oil exports to China (from 1.43 million to 1.65 million barrels — by 15%) by November, which is the highest since April 2023. So, in October, Saudi Aramco should ship about 51 million barrels of oil to Chinese refineries, while about 43 million barrels were shipped in September.

How are Riyadh and Islamabad planning to defend their fuel and energy "corridor"?

Of course, the main tasks in this alliance to provide a deterrent effect on a potential enemy (for example, India) will be assigned to the Command of Strategic Forces and Pakistan Air Force. They are armed with 150+ operational-tactical ballistic missiles Abdali (Hatf-2), Ghaznavi (Hatf-3), Shaheen-I/IA (Hatf-4) and Nasr (Hatf-9), as well as medium-range ballistic missiles Ghauri (Hatf-5) and Shaheen-II (Hatf-6).

The range of the latter is about 1,700 — 2,000 km at a speed on the descending branch of the trajectory of 5-7 M. Also, nuclear warheads with a capacity of up to 150 kilotons can be placed on low-profile cruise missiles Raad-1 and Raad-2 with a range of 350 and 600 km. These missiles are included in the ammunition sets of multifunctional fighters JF-17A/ B /C (Block I / II / III), the number of which in service with the Air Force of Pakstan is about 161-175 units.

It is noteworthy that having a range of 950 — 1300 km (depending on the combat load), these machines can be quickly relocated from the PTB to Saudi Arabia to strengthen the strike and defensive capabilities of the Royal Saudi Air Force. Also, JF-17A/B/C can be equipped with Chinese hypersonic anti-ship/multipurpose CM-400AKG missiles, dozens of which are in service with the Pakistan Air Force.

These RCC can implement both flat and ballistic flight paths with an apogee of 25 — 55 km and a maximum speed of 5 M, which allows to reach a range of 240 — 370 km. The CM-400AKG guidance system is represented by INS, GPS modules and active X-band radar seeker for detecting, capturing and defeating enemy surface ships.

Consequently, the JF-17B/C can easily patrol over the waters of the Arabian Sea (along the offshore oil "artery") accompanied by multi-role J-10C fighters equipped with proven high-performance PL-15 air combat missiles.

If, for example, the leadership and command The Indian Armed Forces (in case of renewed escalation) will decide to launch a massive precision strike on the KPEC terminals in Gwadar, then in this case, Pakistan's air defense units can intercept some of the missiles using the HQ-22 and HQ-9P air defense systems, while to counter the Indian Rafale F3R and Su-30MKI, the Arabian Air Force can send to Pakistan airspace multi-role fighters F-15S/SA and Typhoon, equipped with air-to-air missiles AIM-120C-7 and AIM-120D.

What is extremely important is the geographical proximity of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (800 km) provides the fleets of their Air Force with the possibility of operational interchangeability in the event of any threats in various directions. The KSA Air Force and the Pakistan Air Force can boast of having a sufficient number of long-range radar detection and control aircraft. For example, the Saudi Air Force has 5 AWACS AWACS E-3A Sentry AWACS aircraft, whose radars can detect cruise missiles with an EOP of 0.1 square meters. m against the background of the Earth's surface at a distance of 150-170 km, while the Pakistani Air Force has six Saab 2000 Erieye air radars and 4 Chinese ZDK-03, this provides the Combined Air Forces of both states with comprehensive information on the tactical air situation in most areas.

An equally interesting point is the presence of the Saudis of the Royal Saudi Strategic Forces, which have in their arsenal from 120 to 200 Chinese medium-range ballistic missiles DF-3A (up to 4,500 km), as well as a similar or even larger number of more modern Chinese DF-21C BRSD with a range of up to 2,700 km.

However, to talk about the possibility of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan does not have to provide guaranteed cover for the "oil artery" in the Arabian Sea, because the oil fleets of both states are still extremely vulnerable to modern low-noise submarines and non-nuclear submarines with anaerobic power plants, not to mention reconnaissance and strike unmanned boats and underwater drones.

Therefore The armed forces of both states (especially Pakistan) will have to rely on the supply of modern sonar reconnaissance equipment (including anti-submarine aircraft and reconnaissance back) to escort oil tankers, as well as equip these tankers with appropriate combat modules for self-defense.