In 1985, Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, took the first action and made a tentative request to the United States to purchase the "Lance" ballistic missile. As a result, this tactical surface-to-surface missile with a range of only 120 kilometers The purchase request was rejected by the United States. When Bandar reported the news back home dejectedly, the Saudis became distressed: Where can they find a country that can quickly provide such weapons without proposing restrictive treaties? Prince Sultan, commander of the Saudi Air Defense Force, recommended China, which had not yet established diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, to the king.

One transaction exceeded China's foreign exchange reserves

In the second half of 1987, Saudi Arabia decided to order a certain number of "Dongfeng-3" missiles by paying cash. At the same time, China Responsible for planning infrastructure and training relevant personnel for the deployment of these missiles in Saudi Arabia.

This transaction is China’s largest single arms export to date