India to Request Russia Speed Up Delivery of S-400 Missile Systems

A number of Indian media outlets have reported that Delhi will request Russia speeds up delivery of S-400 missile systems ordered in October 2018, a point which will be raised during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s three day visit to Russia. India’s air defence network is currently considered well below the standard needed to counter modern threats from both missiles and aircraft deployed by neighbouring China and Pakistan - the former which has deployed advanced stealth fighters in growing numbers since early 2017. India remains by far the largest foreign client for the S-400, having ordered five full battalions of the system under a $5.4 billion deal. Neighbouring China previously ordered two battalions under a smaller deal, the first of which is now fully operational.

The S-400 entered service in 2007 and is currently considered the world’s foremost air defence system of its kind - which compares highly favourably against Western rivals such as the American Patriot and THAAD systems. The platform is capable of engaging up to 80 targets simultaneously including combinations of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft, and is prized for its ability to track and lock onto stealth aircraft. The S-400 makes use of an advanced cold launch system and deploys over a dozen classes of surface to air missile, many of them hypersonic, which are specialised in countering a variety of targets at specific ranges. This allows an S-400 battalion to effectively function as a multi-layered air defence system even without support from complementary other systems. It remains unclear whether India has placed an order for the S-400’s longest ranged and most formidable missile, the 40N6E, which is capable of striking targets up to 400km away at speeds of around Mach 15. China has begun to deploy such missiles from its own S-400 batteries, and is the only confirmed overseas client for the advanced but costly munition.