Istanbul. January 11. INTERFAX-The Turkish armed Forces are ready to start operating the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems purchased from Russia, the head of the Turkish Defense Industry Department, Ismail Demir, said on Monday.
"The S-400 system is ready for use, the armed forces will decide when it is necessary," Demir said, as quoted by 24TV.
As reported by Interfax, Turkey bought four S-400 divisions from Russia. On October 23, 2019, Rosoboronexport announced that Russia had fulfilled this contract ahead of schedule by supplying Turkey with all elements of the S-400 systems, including missiles.
Russia has supplied Turkey with S-400 systems worth $2.5 billion, the head of Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, said in July.
On December 7, he said that Turkey had paid for the S-400.
In mid-October, Turkey carried out successful test launches of S-400 missiles on its territory.
Dmitry Shugaev, head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of Russia, said in an interview with Interfax in March 2020 that Russia expects to agree on the supply of an additional batch of S-400s to Turkey in the foreseeable future.
The contract with Turkey for the S-400 doppler is likely to be signed next year, Chemezov told Interfax in August. "I think that we will not sign it until the end of the year, "he said at the Army 2020 military-technical forum. "Probably," Chemezov said, answering a question about the possible signing of a second contract with Turkey for the S-400 next year.
S-400 "Triumph" is a long-range anti-aircraft missile system (JSC "Concern of East Kazakhstan Region "Almaz-Antey").
In June 2019, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that the contract for the supply of S-400 to Turkey provides for a partial transfer of technologies. "The contract implies a partial transfer of technologies in production. Partial, " Peskov said at the time.