Rosoboronexport’s Director General Alexander Mikheev said that the defense company would begin implementing a contract for the supply of its advanced S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey in 2019, the RIA Novosti reported.
“The contract [on the S-400 supplies to Turkey] will be implemented within the agreed time limits. In 2019 we will start implementing the contract,” the company’s director general and CEO Aleksandr Mikheev told reporters on Tuesday.
Washington has expressed great concern that NATO member Turkey’s upcoming deployment of the Russian S-400s could pose a serious security risk for U.S.-made weapons used by Turkey, including the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, a fifth-generation combat aircraft.
Rosoboronexport told Turkey it would switch to the Lira, instead of using the dollar to complete the transaction, the RIA news agency reported.
TOW S400 ARRIVED IN TURKEY AND QATATERR ;TRUMP SEE YOU TOMRROW 🐺😂😂😂😂😂🤫🤟😰✌️🌏🦂🐾🦖🦅🌞📟🎚️🎙️🎙️📞📡💻🔓🌐✔️🧗♂️🧢👠⛳️🏌️♂️ pic.twitter.com/LSO1ydepDn
— MOHMOUDELTAHER (@smile333w) August 18, 2018
In April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to expedite the delivery of the missile systems for 2019.
The S-400 system also called the Triumph Mobile Multiple Anti-Aircraft Missile System (AAMS), is an advanced Russian missile system designed to detect, track, and destroy aircraft, drones, missiles as far as 402 kilometers (250 miles) away. Moscow had previously sold the missile systems to China and India. The Economist described the S-400 in 2017 as “one of the best air-defense systems currently made.”
Ankara’s decision to acquire the missile systems stems from last year after Moscow and Turkey signed a $2.5-billion deal for the transfer of the technology.
Washington immediately threatened to halt delivery of the F-35 stealth jets if Ankara finalized the agreement with Russia. With the recent passage of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (passed by the Senate earlier this month), it warned about the US supplying fifth-generation fighters to Turkey amid declining diplomatic relations.
President Erdogan told Washington that it did not want to depend on Western technology, which is why the country had been turning towards Russia.
“We will not just buy the S-400s and place them in a storehouse. We will use them if need be,” Erdogan said in June.
President Trump’s response was to sign a Pentagon bill into law restricting the delivery of F-35 jets. The bill also called for the US Secretary of Defense to submit a report within three months addressing the impacts of Turkey’s purchase of S-400s on US-made weapon systems in the region.
Both NATO allies have discussed various ways on how to resolve this dispute but it seems that has failed with Turkey migrating towards Russia.
Diplomatic ties between Turkey and the US have plummeted in the last month over the detention of US evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson, which could likely be a front for a much larger issue: Washington wants to destroy the Eurasia integration via economic warfare.
The first victim? Well, of course, it was Turkey, as President Trump launched economic and political sanctions on the country, which collapsed the Turkish Lira against the US dollar.
As to why Turkey is buying the world’s most advanced missile system, well, it is preparing for military conflict.