First Regiment Of S-400 Air Defence System To Be Delivered To India By End Of 2021: Russian Official

First Regiment of the Russian S-400 Triumf air defence missile system is likely to be delivered to India by the end of next year, a Russian official has said.

The official further added that if the need arise, the delivery period of further batches could be compressed, reports Economic Times.

The S-400 is one of the world's most advanced air defence systems and can take down targets at a range of over 400 km.

India had signed a $5 billion deal with Russia in 2018 to purchase five regiments of the cutting-edge air defence system despite the threat of US sanctions.

"The schedule of fulfilling the contract has been discussed in detail with Indian partners and the delivery of the first regiment is expected by the end of 2021,” the official representative of Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation was quoted by ET as saying at the Army 2020 expo at Kubinka, outside Moscow.

“Further acceleration (of the timeline) is technically impossible, given the technology-related stages of production, acceptance trials and transfer of the equipment," the official representative added.