Turkey has started work on making its first domestically produced long-range air defense missile system and the first delivery is planned for 2021, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
Turkey is also purchasing S-400 surface-to-air missiles from Russia. State-owned Anadolu news agency quoted Defence Minister Hulusi Akar as saying last week that the installation of the S-400 missile system would begin in October, 2019.
The clause related to the payment option comes into force following the delivery of the main batch, Boris told reporters on the sidelines of the Russian-Cuban intergovernmental commission meeting in Havana.
Turkey reserves the right to buy more S-400 complexes at a prior specified price, Borisov explained.
Russia and Turkey signed the contract on S-400 air defense systems delivery in 2017. Installation of S-400 in Turkey is expected to begin in October 2019.
Borisov also informed that Russian-Indian contract on the S-400 delivery was signed in rubles.
Russian authorities promote the idea of transactions in national currencies because it circumvents sanctions.
The installation of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems in Turkey will begin in October 2019, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday.
Akar also said that personnel would be sent to Russia to receive training at the start of 2019.
The S-400 is Russia’s most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system with a capacity of carrying three types of missiles capable of destroying targets including ballistic and cruise missiles.
The system can track and engage up to 300 targets at a time and has an altitude ceiling of 27 kilometers (17 miles).
He said the F-35 fighter jet program with the United States was continuing as planned, with the third and fourth jets in the program to be delivered in March next year.
