Russia readies 'draft agreement' for supply of S-400 missiles to India

India might be inching closer to buying the S-400 Triumph (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler), the new Russian anti-aircraft missile system, with Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) readying the "draft agreement" for its supply to India, TASS reported citing Vladimir Drozhzhov, deputy head of FSMTC.

The Russian side is waiting for a response from India. "The Federal Service has prepared a draft intergovernmental agreement on the supply of the S-400 systems to India and passed it to our partners, so we are awaiting a response," Drozhzhov said on the sidelines of the Defexpo 2016 in South Goa.

Previous reports had suggested that India's Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) had cleared the purchase of five Russian S-400 air defence missile systems worth approximately Rs 40,000 crore (about $6 billion). India could reportedly buy 12 units of the S-400 missile system.

Russian ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin had earlier confirmed to the Pioneer that Russia and India were negotiating the sale of S-400 missile systems.

Currently, China is the only international customer for S-400, which is one of the advanced anti-aircraft missile systems in the Russian inventory. In fact, recent reports had revealed that China has already made advanced payments for the missile systems.

Though there is no information on the exact number of the missile systems China is buying from Russia, it has been reported that it could not be less than six S-400 battalions.

The S-400 missile systems are able to destroy aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Ground objectives can also be targeted using the S-400. They are able to acquire 36 targets at a distance of 400 kms and can hit targets at an altitude of 30 kms.