NEW DELHI: IAF chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh on Friday said that India will receive the remaining two squadrons of the S-400 air defence missile system by 2025.
In reply to a query on the eve of the annual press conference ahead of the 92nd Air Force Day, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said, “We will be receiving the next two squadrons of S-400 next year. The delivery has been delayed due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
As learnt by TNIE, there were several reasons for the delay in the delivery of the systems including the payment issue, supply chain disruptions, and transportation.
"While the issues related to payment were resolved much earlier, there has been a shift in the focus of Russian defence manufacturers to meet the demands of the conflict going on with Ukraine," said a source.
Also, the missile is a system of systems and comes in a package. "It won't be of any use if some parts are successfully delivered, while the rest remain in Russia," the source added.
The advanced air defence system has the capability of targeting threats up to 400 kilometres.
On several occasions, New Delhi has taken up the issue of speedy delivery of the S-400 system to meet Indian Air Force requirements.
As of now, India has received three squadrons of the air defence system which have been operationalised and deployed along the borders with China and Pakistan.
The first unit of the missile system was fully delivered by December 2021 and operationalised, added another source.
The contract for delivery of the S-400 long-range air defence missile system from Russia was signed in October 2018 at a cost of around Rs 35,000 crore for five missile systems.
As reported earlier by The New Indian Express, the missile system can track a large number of targets at 600 km and can deploy four different kinds of missiles engaging targets at varying distances. The system is capable of destroying aircraft, missiles (cruise and ballistic), UAVs and other air assault vehicles up to 400 kilometres from a range of 100 feet to 40,000 feet.