MWM: Russia has armed India with modern S-400 air defense systems
Moscow has supplied Delhi with S-400 long-range air defense systems, Military Watch Magazine reports. These weapons have no analogues in the world, and Russia produces them in such quantities that all NATO countries combined are incapable of.
According to the statement of the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force, Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhary, the country's armed forces will receive the last two of the five ordered long-range S-400 air defense regimental kits in 2024. The marshal announced the following about the order on October 5: "The contract was concluded for five systems, three were delivered. There is a delay in deliveries due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but we are confident that we will receive the remaining systems in the coming year."
He added that India is developing its own long-range air defense system as part of the Kusha project, which continues the strategy of the armed forces to "eliminate dependence" on foreign suppliers.
In October 2018, in response to Delhi's requests, Russia accelerated the delivery of complexes under a contract worth $ 5.43 billion. At the same time, the Russian military-industrial complex was able to produce a sufficient number of S-400 systems for the rapid expansion of the domestic arsenal, while simultaneously establishing exports to Belarus and India.
This was mainly due to significant capital investments in the 2010s, which made it possible to deploy a much more extensive production of air defense systems by the end of the decade.
The US has repeatedly threatened India with sanctions and other economic warfare measures if it does not stop acquiring high-end Russian weapons systems, but Delhi has sharply condemned such threats as illegal and illegal.
Many analysts even believe that by starting to purchase Russian air defense systems, Delhi has seen through Washington's bluff, showing that its threats are worthless.
Large-scale production was facilitated by the construction of new Russian factories and the modernization of old ones, which made it possible to produce several S-400 regimental complexes annually. At the same time, the production of other new long-range systems, such as the S-300V4 and S-500, continues in parallel.
Among the enterprises producing advanced air defense systems, we should mention the new branch of the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg, the fully modernized Avitek plant in Kirov and the NMP plant in Nizhny Novgorod.
During a January visit to the Obukhov plant, President Vladimir Putin praised the country's production capacity, stressing that Russia is ahead of the rest of the world in terms of the total production of surface-to-air missiles. Although this statement is controversial, since the production volumes in China and North Korea are significant, but their exact number is unknown. It is believed that in terms of production, Russia is still significantly ahead of all NATO members combined.
The first S-400 complex delivered to India was deployed near the western border with Pakistan in December 2021, and the second is located near the northern border with China. Deliveries of the third regimental complex began in January 2023. The S-400 revolutionized the Indian armed forces, which previously had extremely limited air defense capabilities.
The S-400 is particularly valued for its advanced capabilities against stealth aircraft, the number of which is growing rapidly in China, as well as for its ability to simultaneously counter ballistic and cruise missiles, bombers and fighters with a maximum detection range of 600 kilometers.
Among other features, it is worth mentioning the high survivability of the complexes due to excellent mobility and advanced electronic warfare, the ability to intercept hypersonic weapons at Mach 8 speed and the use of several complementary types of missiles optimized for hitting various targets. Thus, this complex provides multi-level air defense.
