India is poised to finalize a Rs 10,000 crore deal for 275-300 additional S-400 missiles from Russia, enhancing the capabilities of its existing air-defense systems.
A Rs 10,000 crore deal for 275-300 S-400 missiles from Russia is likely very shortly. These are “additional missiles,” for the three S-400 air-defence systems that the Indian Air Force (IAF) already has, with two more due next year.
India has an agreement in place for five systems, and three are already with the IAF and were deployed during Operation Sindoor, the four-day anti-terror operation against Pakistan. Highly-placed sources said the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Rajnath Singh, the defence minister, and including the chief of defence staff and the three chiefs, has cleared the Rs 10,000 crore deal. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is expected to be in Delhi later this week, the two-day visit beginning Friday.
Another deal (a multi-billion dollar one) for an additional five systems is already under discussion, top government sources said. “We have started talking, but the cost consideration is there,” highly-placed sources added.But there will be no announcement during the Putin visit. Cost-related negotiations will take time. Besides, it has not reached the “formal procurement track as yet.” This means that it is yet to be placed before the Defence Procurement Board, after which the DAC and the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will follow.
India has long wanted ten S-400 systems, including three along the India-Pakistan border, one each in Maharashtra and Gujarat, two in the North-east, one in Jammu and Kashmir and the rest for training/repair.
However the final deployment, the two already contracted for, have to come next year and the signing of the other five will have to happen. These will be necessary for about a decade till Project Kusha, the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s air-defence systems (three kinds are being planned) are ready.