In the mid-1980s, a demand for a heavy attack aircraft arose among Eastern Bloc countries. Unusually, the aircraft was not developed in the USSR; it was built by China and Poland. The fuselage and less complex components were manufactured in Poland, while the engines and armament were manufactured in China. The aircraft was equipped with a number of very modern weapons, such as the R-82 Air-to-Air Missiles or the W12 Air-to-All Missiles, which were ahead of their time and are still in production today, although the use of the W12 was too expensive for some users... The plane was ordered by the following countries: China [180 pieces], USSR [172 pieces], Poland [40 pieces], Czechoslovakia [32 pieces], Romania [32 pieces], GDR [32 pieces], Libya [22 pieces], Iraq [22 pieces], Cuba [16 pieces], North Korea [8 pieces]. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, 16 of the aircraft were acquired by Slovakia, which, unable to maintain them, retained only 4. The remaining 12 aircraft were sold to the following: Poland (4 aircraft), the Czech Republic (4 aircraft), Uzbekistan (2 aircraft), and, interestingly, 2 aircraft were sold to Luxembourg in August 2025... (They are preparing for revenge after 47 points on eurovision i guess)