According to his clarifications, Russia has so far supplied three S-400 systems and "undertook the obligation to deliver the remaining two units by next year". "We will receive the next two systems during 2025 ," said Amar Preet Singh, quoted by The New Indian Express.
As is known, India announced its intention to buy Russian S-400 air defense systems in 2015. The contract for the supply of five sets of regimental level S-400 systems worth 5.43 billion of dollars, was signed during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India in October 2018.
The New Indian Express reported that the S-400 missile systems received by India so far have already been deployed on the borders with China and Pakistan.
The S-400 Triumpf is a Russian long-range and medium-range anti-aircraft missile system. It was designed to destroy air strike and reconnaissance assets, as well as any other aerial targets, under heavy fire and electronic countermeasures. The system can hit aircraft and cruise missiles at a distance of up to 400 kilometers and ballistic targets flying at speeds of up to 4.8 km/s at distances of up to 60 kilometers. The S-400 is capable of destroying aerial targets up to an altitude of 30 kilometers.
Author's Comment: India has become the third country to order Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, after China and Turkey. The latter received from Moscow two regiments of complexes of this type, i.e. four divisions each.
According to the contract concluded between Moscow and New Delhi, the first of the five S-400 anti-aircraft missile regiments was to be delivered in 2021, and the rest by the end of 2024.
Starting with a delay from the very beginning, the Russians supplied India with only one division instead of two at the end of 2021. Thus, until the beginning of 2023, the Russian side did not complete the delivery of the first four divisions of S-400 missiles , i.e. two regiments.
In March 2023, Russian representatives announced that deliveries of S-400 systems to India had been suspended, following the accumulation of a debt of approximately two billion dollars for the armaments already supplied. This happened against the background of international sanctions, which caused certain changes in the payments made between the two parties.
