By SAT News Desk
MELBOURNE, 15 November 2021: Rossia has begun the delivery of the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems to India, reports Sputnik News. The deliveries are going as planned, Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Dmitry Shugaev ahead of the Dubai Airshow. The contract is worth $ 5.2 billion. The United States has not been happy with India getting these Russian missiles and the threat of sanctions against India were rife under the ‘Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act’ (CAATSA), which was passed in 2017 to punish countries involved in the arms trade with Moscow.
It remains to be seen if that happens because of the cosy relations between Washington and New Delhi. Turkey which bought these missiles also faced possible US sanctions but it went ahead with the acquisition. About 100 personnel of the Indian Air Force have reportedly trained for the missiles.
The Sputnik News report says: “The supplies of the S-400 air defense system to India have started and are proceeding on schedule,” Shugaev said.
The S-400 has already entered service in China and Turkey. Russia and India signed a contract on the delivery of S-400s in October 2018.
In August, the head of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheev, told Sputnik that negotiations on the supply of S-400 air defense systems were underway with seven countries in the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.”
The S-400 Triumf (Russian: C-400 Триумф – Triumf; translation: Triumph; NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler), previously known as the S-300 PMU-3,[2] is a mobile, surface-to-air missile (SAM) system developed in the 1990s by Russia’s Almaz Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering as an upgrade to the S-300 family.
On April 28, 2007, the S-400 went into service and the first battalion of the newest surface-to-air missile systems assumed combat duty on August 6.
China was the first foreign buyer to broker a government deal with Russia in 2014; while Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India and Belarus have all acquired, or expressed interest, in the system since.[3]
In 2017, the S-400 was described by The Economist as “one of the best air-defence systems currently made”,[4] and Siemon Wezeman of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) remarked it “is among the most advanced air defence systems available.”
