10 things to know about S-400 missiles that India will purchase from Russia

New Delhi, Sep 18: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the negotiations for the S-400 were in a "conclusive stage." India's decision to buy Russia's S-400 missile system has left the US uncomfortable. The US had made it fairly clear that defence ties between India and the US could be impacted if New Delhi goes ahead with the purchase of S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems.

India will go ahead with its purchase from Russia despite the possibility of sanctions looming large. On one hand, India wants these missiles to strengthen defence capabilities, but at the same time does not want to sour relations with the US. India is hopeful that the Trump administration would grant an exemption to India under CAATSA, which may come into effect if India goes ahead with the purchase of S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems from Russia.

Here are the 10 important things about S-400 Triumf air defence missile system that you must know:

• S-400 Triumf is one of the world's most advanced air defence systems that can simultaneously track numerous incoming objects - all kinds of aircraft, missiles and UAVs - in a radius of a few hundred kilometres and launch appropriate missiles to neutralise them.

• The S-400 was developed as an upgrade of the S-300 series of surface-to-air missile systems.

• The S-400 Triumph air defence system integrates a multifunction radar, autonomous detection and targeting systems, anti-aircraft missile systems, launchers, and command and control centre.

• The S-400 air defence missile system uses four new missile types in addition to the missiles of the S-300PMU system.

• The S-400 Triumph also launches 9M96E and 9M96E2 medium range ground-to-air missiles. Designed for direct impact, the missiles can strike fast moving targets such as fighter aircraft with a high hit probability.

• The highly automated S-400 has radars that can pick up an incoming object up to a 1,000 kilometres away, track several dozen incoming objects simultaneously, distribute the targets to appropriate missile systems and ensure a high success rate.

• It has been in service with the Russian Armed Forces since 2007.

• The S-400 was described by The Economist in 2017 as "one of the best air-defence systems currently made."

• S-400's comparable missile system, US made MIM-104 Patriot, is losing market to the Russian weapon system across the globe.

• The S-400 is two-times more effective than previous Russian air defence systems and can be deployed within five minutes.