Many countries by "glamorous" weapons with little regard
for the purpose of having the weapons platform in
the first place other than to look good.
A case in point is that the platforms are not equipped
with proper or sufficient munitions for them
to carry out their duties. 32 missiles for 18 SU 30s is
clearly insufficient. For sustained operations, one will need
at least 4 to 6 weapons per platform as a bare minimum
. I remember that 200 AIM9Xs were ordered for the 24
F15SGs. I am quite sure there will be follow up
purchases in addition to unpublicized purchases of other non US
weapons.
If you look at SIPRI 's arms transfer register, one can see the
amount of big ticket munitions ( eg Harpoon SSMs ) SAF
has purchased over the years.
Having a gun without sufficient ammo makes little sense.
