S-400 to be delivered to Turkey in ‘minimum 2 years’

Russia will start the delivery of S-400 air defense missile systems to Turkey in a minimum of two years, Defense Industries Undersecretary İsmail Demir said on Monday.

"We do not want to give a full timetable as we have made certain negotiations to pull the calendar forward, but we can say the delivery will start in a minimum of two years," Demir said at a launch meeting of the Unmanned and Autonomous Land Vehicles Design Contest in Ankara.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week that the first payment for the S-400 had been made to Russia.

The S-400 is Russia's most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system and can carry three types of missiles capable of destroying targets, including ballistic and cruise missiles.

It can track and engage up to 300 targets at the same time and has an altitude ceiling of 27 kilometers (17 miles).