Turkey completes the purchase of Russian S-400 anti-air missile systems
Turkey has completed the procedure of purchasing S-400 anti-air missile systems from Russia, Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli announced, as reported by Anadolu.
“The S-400 systems have been purchased. All that’s left to deal with are a few minor details,” the Minister noted.
According to him, Turkey does not intend to stop there, but rather aims to develop its domestic capabilities.
“Anti-air defense systems need to be developed in Turkey itself, by domestic enterprises,” he commented.
In October, NATO warned Turkey that it would encounter “inevitable consequences” if it went ahead with the purchase of Russian S-400s.
A NATO representative said that although each country is free to make its own defense-related decisions, Turkey’s planned acquisition of S-400s will not allow Ankara to be part of any integrated anti-air system with NATO allies, and may have other technical limitations.
In July, President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey and Russia had signed a contract on the purchase of Russian S-400 anti-air missile systems.
In May, RBC news agency reported with reference to a source in the Russian Defense Ministry that Russia had offered to sell Turkey S-400s at a price of $500 million per division. The news outlet’s experts were of the shared opinion that Turkey did not intend to purchase the missile systems, but only wanted to show NATO its independence.
The S-400 “Triumph” belongs to a series of multi-channel, long-range anti-air missile systems. A division is equipped with several types of missiles of varying ranges.