Turkey Could Purchase Second S-400 Air Defense System from Russia

Turkey is mulling the purchase of additional S-400 air defense systems from Russia, said Ismail Demir, chairperson of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB).

Speaking to the public broadcaster TRT, Demir said purchasing of the second batch of the S-400 systems was on the table from the very beginning. “Turkey’s decision is what it has always been, it didn’t change according to what others have said,” he noted.

The U.S.-Turkey tensions skyrocketed after the latter bought the S-400 systems from Russia for $2.5 billion in 2017. Washington’s attempts to persuade Ankara to ditch the systems went in vain. Soon after Russia began shipping the S-400s to Turkey in July 2019, the U.S. struck off Turkey’s name from the list of F-35 program partners. Washington argues that the S-400s could be used by Russia to covertly obtain classified details on the F-35 jets and that they are incompatible with NATO systems.

In 2002, Turkey joined several other NATO allies who agreed to buy the F-35, and five years later reached a deal to participate in its production, an agreement worth potentially billions of dollars for Turkish industries. Ankara had ordered more than 100 F-35 jets.

Turkey has called the move unjust and demanded reimbursement for its $1.4 billion payment.

The S-400 can counter rockets, missiles, fighter aircraft and even drone attacks. A regiment has 8 launchers each loaded with 4 missiles. That is, a regiment can fire 32 missiles at a time.

The command center of this system tracks the aerial threat from a distance of 600 km and then destroys it in the range of 2 km to 400 km. This system can track 80 targets at a time and can destroy them when they come in range. If needed, it can be loaded on the truck and carried forward and even then, it becomes ready for attack in 10 to 15 minutes. When deployed, it becomes ready for retaliation within 3 minutes of receiving the signal. The radar of this system cannot be jammed.