TYUMEN, 16 Sep-RIA Novosti. India may become the first buyer of the latest Russian S-500 anti-aircraft missile system, but we will talk about deliveries only after the Russian army is saturated with these complexes, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told reporters on Thursday.
After the start of serial deliveries of the S-500, the Russian army will need permission from the President of Russia to supply systems abroad, if there are appropriate applications.
"But this is a prospect, I think, not for the next few years," Borisov said.
At the same time, he noted that the S-500 supplied for export will differ from those that are put into service with the Russian army: "As a rule, the characteristics of weapons supplied for export should not exceed the Russian ones."
Borisov recalled that Russia and India are bonded by long-term cooperation in the field of sales and joint development of weapons.
"India is the largest exporter of Russian weapons. And we sometimes sell to India what we do not sell to other countries, because we have neither political nor territorial claims among ourselves. Or conflict situations, " he said.
The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that Russia has organized licensed production of T-90 tanks and Su-30MKI aircraft in India, joint production of BrahMos missiles has been established, negotiations are underway on the production of Ka-226T helicopters.
"In addition to the simple sale of weapons, we also share technologies with India," Borisov said.
Earlier, India purchased the S-400 systems from Russia. The S-500 Prometheus (Triumfator-M ROC) belongs to the new generation of ground-to-air air defense systems. It is a universal long-range and high-altitude interception complex with an increased missile defense potential and is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. The promising system is capable of hitting not only ballistic, but also aerodynamic targets (planes, helicopters, other air targets), as well as cruise missiles.
The radius of destruction of the S-500 is about 600 kilometers. The system is supposed to be able to detect and simultaneously hit up to ten ballistic supersonic targets flying at a speed of up to 7 kilometers per second, including hypersonic missile warheads.
According to its characteristics, the S-500 should significantly surpass the S-400 in service and its American competitor Patriot Advanced Capability-3.
