Proliferator states, such as Russia and China, increasingly use the sale of their advanced conventional weapons (ACW) systems as a means to obtain financial resources, exert malign influence, and create strategic defense dependencies.
At the same time, countries with existing ACW contracts are
seeing these systems operate in Ukraine, as well as experiencing the impact of manufacturing and supply shortages.
To adapt to the sanctions against them, Russia has been forced to turn to China to supply the materials, technology, and logistics for their defense industrial base for critical high priority items, creating close networks of collaboration.