Maria Vorobyova, the official representative of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of Russia, told local media on the side-lines of the ongoing Army-2020 International Military and Technical Forum in that country

The first regimental set of S-400 Triumf ‘SA-21 Growler’ air defence systems will be delivered by Russia to India in 2021, and is ready to consider accelerating the delivery of the following consignments. Maria Vorobyova, the official representative of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of Russia, told local media on the side-lines of the ongoing Army-2020 International Military and Technical Forum in that country.

In response to a question posed by Interfax, Maria Vorobyova, said “There have been detailed discussions with the Indian partners and the delivery of the first regiment is expected by the end of 2021. The delivery of the first batch is from the system is technically not possible as there are different stages including the technology-related stages of production, acceptance and transfer of equipment.”

India and Russia had inked a $ 5.43 billion contract for the S-400 Triumf ‘SA-21 Growler’ which is long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems for the Indian Air Force (IAF). As per the contract, IAF is to get five Triumf regimental kits from Russia.

In 2019, the Russian officials had made it clear that the mode of payment for the S-400 has been formalized already, without going into specifics had hinted that it will not be dependent on the USD. Perhaps the payment will be in Rupee-Rouble currency, which will be made by India’s main bank to the state-owned Russian Sberbank.

What Is India Buying?

The delivery of the regimental kits will be staggered and are expected to be completed ahead of 2025. According to the contract between the two countries, the fifth and final kit is slated to be delivered by the first half of 2025.

Besides Mumbai-Baroda Industrial Corridor, it will also be deployed in the National Capital Region.

It will give more power to the Air Defence of the IAF. And all men and women who will be operating this will undergo training in Moscow.

It is referred to as the SA-21 ‘Growler’ by NATO and has four different types of missiles with ranges between 40 km, 100 km, 200-km and 400 km.

According to experts it will help in forming an impenetrable interlocking grid of missiles and can be readied and deployed in a few minutes.

It has the capability to detect and destroy high and low flying targets. It comes with 92N6E electronically-steered phased array radar.

Resistant to electronic jamming the missiles and launchers can be mounted on cross country trucks.