Russia could signed contract of S-400 missile systems for India in April 2018.

India and Russia are in the final stage of the negotiations on the purchase of S-400 (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) air defense missile systems, India’s Economic Times reported. According to the newspaper, the document may be signed during a visit of Indian Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to Moscow in the first week of April.

TEL Transporter Erector Launcher unit of Russian S-400 surface-to-air defense missile system  (Picture source Army Recognition)

In January, Head of Russia’s Rostec state hi-tech corporation Sergei Chemezov said in an interview published by the Indian Defence News portal that the talks on the contract were in an advanced stage and the sides were negotiating its technical details. The intergovernmental agreement on the delivery of S-400 air defense missile systems to India was signed in October 2016.

Earlier, Indian Air Force officials told the Indian parliament that "the procurement of the S-400 air defence systems developed by Russia is imperative to tackle possible threats from China and Pakistan," The Economic Times reported.

The S-400 Triumf is a Russian-made long- and medium-range air defense missile system. The system is designed to eliminate all advanced and perspective air-launched weapons.

The S-400 surface-to-air defense missile system can destroy aerila targets at a range of up to 400 kilometers (249 miles) and tactical ballistic targets flying at a speed of 4.8 km/s (3 mi/s) at a distance of up to 60 kilometers (37 miles). Such targets include cruise missiles, tactical and strategic aircraft and ballistic missile warheads.

The S-400 system’s radars detect aerial targets at a distance of up to 600 kilometers (373 miles). The S-400 uses 48N6E3 surface-to-air missiles able to hit aerial targets at altitudes from 10,000 to 27,000 meters and ballistic threats at altitudes from 2,000 to 25,000 meters.