Russia Plans to Sign Contract to Deliver Second Batch of S-400 Systems to Turkey: Source
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Russia and Turkey plan to sign a contract on the delivery of the second batch of the S-400 air defense missile systems in 2020, a military diplomatic source told TASS on Wednesday.
"After the delivery of the first batch concludes in May or June 2020, the parties plan to sign a new contract on the delivery of the second batch of the S-400 systems in 2021. The list of supplies will be similar to the one included in the first contract," the source said.
According to the source, the new document is planned to stipulate local manufacturing as Turkish companies will produce certain components of the S-400 systems, "which are not of crucial importance."
Meanwhile, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation and Rosoboronexport have declined to comment on this information.
The news about Russian-Turkish talks on the delivery of S-400 systems first came in November 2016. The contract’s signing was confirmed by Russia.
In September 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara had signed a contract with Moscow on purchasing the S-400 complexes and made an advance payment. Head of Russia’s Rostec State Corporation Sergei Chemezov said that the delivery would begin in March 2020.
Turkey is the first NATO member state to purchase this kind of air defense missile systems from Russia.
In November 2014, it was announced that Russia and China had signed a contract on S-400 supplies. In October 2016, Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement to deliver S-400 systems to India.
According to media reports, Belarus, Vietnam, Egypt, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Syria, Sudan, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries are also interested in purchasing these complexes.
The S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the most advanced long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range ones, and can also be used against ground objectives. The S-400 complex can engage targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km.
