Russia's S‑400 deal with India: Tech transfer amid global shifts
Deliveries of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft systems to India have been delayed for many years. Nevertheless, despite the challenges, the Russian defence sector can boast of success. The agreement related to the servicing and production of S-400 parts in India is one such achievement.
As a result of the war in Ukraine, Russian arms exports are declining, and Moscow is losing many of its traditional clients who have been purchasing Russian weapons for decades. One such country is India, which, in part, has shifted from Russian armaments in favour of Western systems.
This trend does not apply, however, to the S-400 anti-aircraft system. Russia signed the deal for its sale in 2019, and the delivery schedule has been postponed multiple times.
Despite these delays, both parties have agreed on transferring technology to India, establishing service centres in the country, and beginning the production of certain S-400 components.
This agreement offers Moscow short-term commercial benefits and creates an alternative source in India for the components necessary for servicing and producing the anti-aircraft system. Besides the S-400, India manufactures several Russian defence products, including T-90 tanks, Su-30 airplanes, and BrahMos anti-ship missiles, which are an evolution of the Russian P-800 Oniks.
S-400 anti-aircraft system
The S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft system was developed in the 1990s as a successor to the older S-300 (essentially, the S-400 is an evolution of the S-300PMU), maintaining partial backward compatibility and the ability to use older missiles.
According to Russian sources, the S-400 can combat aircraft, cruise missiles, and intercontinental ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of flight. Its range is said to vary—depending on the target and the missile used—from nearly 400 to just 40 kilometres.
The S-400 system has achieved several export successes. In addition to Russia, it is also operated by Algeria, Belarus, China, India, and Turkey. In the case of Turkey, the purchase of the S-400 affected the sale of F-35 aircraft to Turkey.
Verification of Kremlin propaganda
The war in Ukraine has tested the capabilities of the S-400 system, which was previously rated very highly even by Western analysts. Contrary to Russian propaganda claims, the S-400 has proven ineffective against modern Western missiles.
It is incapable of effectively defending protected targets and unable to defend itself. S-400 launchers have repeatedly fallen victim to, among others, ATACMS missiles fired from HIMARS launchers. One dramatic video even depicts the flight of Storm Shadow missiles directly over a Russian launcher.
The system's ineffectiveness against modern Western weapons was also confirmed by the war in Syria, where, assuming the use of Israeli F-35I Adir aircraft, Russian systems were immediately turned off to avoid destruction.
