Russia said on Wednesday that it expected to sign a deal with India this year on the sale of S-400 surface-to-air missiles, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russia said on Wednesday that it expected to sign a deal with India this year on the sale of S-400 surface-to-air missiles, the Interfax news agency reported.
It cited Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation as saying that all the technical aspects of the contract had been agreed and a price just needed to be decided.
"I think that in the current year we will sign the corresponding contract document," Interfax quoted Dmitry Shugaev, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, as saying.
The surface-to-air missile system can detect, track and destroy enemy targets at a range of 400 km and altitude of 30 km.
According to a Mail Today report, the Indian Air Force had conducted the field evaluation trails, which were said to be successful.
Manufactured by Almaz Antey in Russia, the missile system includes set of radars, missile launcher sand command posts.
If India is able to close the deal, it would be able to track all Pakistani air bases. Also, China installations in Tibet would also come within India’s striking range.
HIGH IN DEMAND
Recently, Turkey had also signed a pact with Russia regarding the supply of S-400 surface-to-air missiles.
The S-400 accord, reportedly worth some $2.5 billion, has caused concern in the West because Turkey is a member of NATO and the system cannot be integrated into NATO's military architecture.
It is the latest in a series of moves by Ankara to boost its defence capabilities as it faces threats from Kurdish and Islamist militants at home and conflicts across its borders in Syria and Iraq.
No details of the accord were available and officials were not immediately available to comment. But Sergei Chemezov, head of the Russian state conglomerate Rostec, told the Kommersant daily on Wednesday Russia would supply Turkey with four batteries of S-400s under the deal.
He said Moscow was expected to begin the first deliveries in March 2020 and that Turkey was the first NATO member state to acquire the advanced S-400 missile system.
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