India, Russia to Discuss Deal on Joint Manufacturing or Purchase of 5 More S-400 Air Defence Systems

India’s top officials from the Ministry of Defence is set to meet their Russian counterparts this week to consider jointly manufacturing or outrightly purchasing five more S-400 air defence systems from Moscow with an aim to enhance India’s long range defensive capabilities.

The deal will come before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s India visit on December 5 for the annual summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to a Hindustan Times report, while two of the five S-400 systems, which are a part of the October 2018, $5.43 billion deal will be delivered by 2026-end, the two countries are talking about the purchase of another five systems to protect any attack across the country’s 7000-km-plus coastline and to plug the air defence gap in the northern command area.

In addition to that, the two sides have already agreed on the cost of the additional five systems with annual escalation from the 2018 price. Currently, the modalities have not been finalised yet and there’s talk that three of the five systems will be purchased outright and the remaining will be built by the private sector companies in India under transfer of technology route.

As per people aware of the matter, who spoke to HT on the condition of anonymity, the deal will be government to government with maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities set up in collaboration with the Indian private sector. They further mentioned that reports of India buying the S-500 system are incorrect as such a system is still on the drawing board in Russia.

Additionally, India is also looking for a RVV-BD, a more than 200 km range air to air missile, from Russia to make its Su-30 MKI fleet more potent as even Pakistan is operating Chinese built 200 km range PL 15 air to air missile and used it against India during Operation Sindoor. The Russian R-37 missile or RVV-BD will have to be integrated into Su-30 MKI with upgradation of the on-board radar of the Russian developed fighter, HT reported.

Even though IAF’s chief Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh talked about his force considering the possibility of acquiring the Su-57 Russian fifth generation fighter, the Centre is still to take any view on that as well as on the US F-35 fighter.

In terms of its attack capability as well as its survival, the Russian S-400 Triumf system lived up to expectations during Operation Sindoor as Pakistan repeatedly targeted the system at Adampur and Bhuj air base using Chinese long range weapons.

Following the initial attack on May 7, the fear of the S-400 system was such that Pakistan had to move all its air assets beyond 300 km from Indian border with hardly any aircraft getting airborne on May 10. The S-400 long range missiles not only took down a Pakistan ELINT aircraft 314 km away in the neighbouring country’s Punjab area but also brought down Pakistan F-16 and JF-17 fighters up north. S-400 proved not only to be a powerful stand-off weapon but also served as a huge deterrent against Pakistan air borne offensive.