China is the first overseas buyer of Russia's most modern long-range anti-aircraft missile system, the S-400 Triumph. The first systems will arrive in China in twelve months.
The fact that China was our first buyer - underline from Rosoboronexport - underlines the strategic level of our relationships.
No other details were disclosed on the contract signed last spring between the two countries. India would also be willing to buy 12 S-400s.
The S-400 Triumph (NATO name SA-21 Growler) is a Russian anti-aircraft missile system designed to destroy all modern and advanced aerospace targets at a maximum distance of 400 kilometers (248,5 miles), a practically double range to the MIM-104 Patriot American.
The S-400 Triumph, an update of the S-300 series, has been in service with the Russian Armed Forces since April 2007, with operational employment in August of the same year. To date, the Russians have four regiments armed with S-400s in line to protect national airspace in the Moscow region, the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad and the Eastern Military District.
For the Russians, there is no aircraft (including the B-2, the F-22 and the F-35) capable of dealing with an S-400 system with impunity.
