India will likely seal the deal for purchase of Russian-made S-400 air defence systems during the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s first visit to Moscow in the early week of April, Economic Times reports.
In December 2015, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the game-changing acquisition of the S-400 systems, which later led to inking of inter-governmental agreement for five S-400 systems on October 2016.
With long-range radars to track 100 to 300 targets simultaneously, the S-400 has different kinds of supersonic and hypersonic missiles to intercept incoming aerial threats at different ranges. India is mainly going in for long-range (120-370-km) interception missiles.
Meanwhile, the visit will also yield in discussions on proposed bilateral collaboration on the development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), in addition to talks on spare parts, maintenance, upgradation and ammunition for Russian-made defence systems. The defence minister will also participate in the Moscow international security conference.