The delivery of Russian-made S-400 (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) air defense missile systems to Turkey will begin within two years, Turkish Undersecretary for Defense Industry Ismail Demir said.
“I do not want to give a concrete date because talks are under way to advance it. But I can tell that the delivery of S-400 systems will begin within at least two years,” Turkey’s A Haber television channel quoted Ismail Demir as saying.
On September 12, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara had signed an agreement with Moscow to purchase S-400 systems and had made an advance payment.
Russian presidential aide for military and technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin confirmed in an interview with TASS that Russia and Turkey had inked a contract on S-400 systems.
Erdogan is expected to discuss the delivery of S-400 systems with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Ankara on September 28.
The S-400 Triumf is a long-range air defense missile system put into operation in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range ones, and ground-based targets.
In April, Russian Aerospace Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Viktor Gumenny said that the delivery of S-400 system missiles able to destroy targets in near space had begun.
