The first regiment of the S-400 missile system from Russia has arrived in India. In 2022, it is likely to be deployed in the northern region of the country, from where it can prevent any kind of air attack from Pakistan and China and protect the country.
The second regiment of S-400 is expected to reach India by June 2022 next year. India can then deploy its S-400 regiments for the security of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
Notably, the S-400 missile system is counted among the best air defence systems in the world. In many ways, the S-400 is better than America's missile defence system. Through this, missiles, fighter aircraft, rockets and even drone attacks can be defended against. Each regiment has 8 launchers. Each launcher has 4 missiles. That is, a regiment can fire 32 missiles at a time.
The command centre of this system tracks the attacking missile or aircraft from a distance of 600 km and then it is destroyed in the range of 2 km to 400 km. This system can track 80 targets at a time and can destroy them when they come in range. If needed, it can be loaded on the truck and carried forward and even then, it becomes ready for attack in just 10 to 15 minutes. If this system is deployed then it becomes ready for retaliation within 3 minutes of receiving the signal. The radar of this system cannot be jammed.
On October 5, 2018, India had signed a deal with Russia for five regiments of S-400 with Russia for $5.43 billion i.e. about Rs 39,000 crore. This type of air defence system is very much needed for India to deal with the air attacks from China and Pakistan. China not only has a large number of good fighter aircraft but also has a large stock of long-range ballistic missiles.
The US had expressed strong displeasure over this deal of Russia with India. America had also threatened to impose sanctions on India under the CAATSA Act. But India had made it clear that it would not accept any control over decisions on its defence needs.
