Sources say that the delivery of the second operational S-400 squadron through ships and aircraft is underway from now on RussiaFor the first time since the Russo-Ukraine War broke out on 24 February.
The new S-400 deliveries come at a time when China has ramped up its air activity in the eastern region LadakhChinese fighters often fly close to line of actual control (LAC) is a violation of the confidence building measure of 10 km no-fly zone between the two sides.
The first S-400 squadron, which was delivered through thousands of containers last December, is already deployed in north-west India to meet air threats from both Pakistan and China.
Indian Air Force Simulators and other equipment for the ‘S-400 Training Squadron’ were also received in April-May this year. The second operational S-400 squadron, in turn, will be deployed exclusively for air defense on the Chinese front.
“The deployment and flights of Chinese fighter jets have increased since mid-June along the 3,488-km-long LAC, especially in Ladakh, but also in other areas like Arunachal Pradesh. There are often two-three Chinese fighter flights near the LAC in a day.
A Chinese jet had flown over Indian military bases at a friction point in eastern Ladakh on June 28, forcing the Indian Air Force to scuttle its own jets and later in the midst of a more than two-year-long military confrontation with China. The matter had to be taken up. Reported by TOI.
China has systematically upgraded all of its major airports like Hotan, Kashgar, Gargunsa and Shigatse to India over the past two years, with extended runways, stern shelters and additional fuel storage facilities for fighters, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Huh. It has also deployed two Russian-origin S-400 batteries and several other anti-aircraft systems to deal with any air attack by India.
Apart from matching military deployment, India has so far managed to circumvent sanctions under US law called CAATSA (Combating America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act), which seeks to prevent countries from buying Russian weapons. .
India has canceled the long-pending deal for 48 additional Mi-17 V5 medium-lift helicopters as well as “postponed” the acquisition of 21 more MiG-29 and 12 Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets from Russia . But India has told the US that the S-400 systems, the acquisition process for which began before CAATSA came into force in 2017, is an “urgent national security need” to counter its hostile neighbours.
Incidentally, the US had previously imposed sanctions on China and Turkey for the induction of the S-400 system. The IAF is expected to acquire all five operational squadrons of the highly-automatic S-400 systems under a $5.43 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) contract with Russia in October 2018, which is by the end of 2023. Each squadron has two missile batteries with 128 missiles with intercept ranges of 120, 200, 250 and 380 km, as well as long-range acquisition and engagement radar and all-terrain transporter-erector vehicles.