Turkish President Mr. Erdoğan said the first delivery of the Russian S-400 missile defense
system would take place within 10 days.
A day earlier on Sunday, broadcaster NTV reported that he said there would be no U.S. sanctions
over the deal.
Viewers may note that the United States & NATO allies were opposing Turkeys decision to buy
Russian S-400.
America had even warned of imposing sanctions.
But things seem to be heading towards a possible resolution.
This seems to have happened after Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump met for bilateral
talks during G20 summit in Japan.
Erdogan has stated rump said Turkey had been treated unfairly and believed that the dispute
over the S-400s would be overcome "without a problem"
Erdogan said, according to NTV, "In our phone calls, when we come together
bilaterally, Mr. Trump has not said so far: 'We will impose these sanctions.'
On the S-400s, he said to me: 'You are right.'
We carried this issue to a very advanced level,”
He added, "At this advanced level, Trump said: 'This is injustice'.
This is very important.
I believe that we will overcome this process without any problems,"
Erdogan said the two leaders had agreed to delegate officials to follow the issue so
as to resolve it.
It is important to note in this context that the United States had offered to sell Raytheon
made Patriot missile defense to Turkey as a replacement for S 400.
Erdogan was quoted by NTV as saying: "One S-400 is worth three Patriots.
If the conditions are even equal to the S-400 (deal), we would buy Patriots, but if they
are not, then we have to think of our interests,"
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why Turkish President is correct in stating that
one Russian S-400 is worth three American Patriots?
Let's get started.
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The United States, NATO nations & members of the Joint Strike Fighter program are all
concerned that S 400 will be able to gather technical data such as radar signature of
F 35s, if Turkey operates the jets in the airspace which is monitored by S 400.
This could potentially pass onto Russian hands and give them an unprecedented edge in future
conflicts.
Furthermore, in an integrated air defense systems setup, S 400 will be hooked to Turkish
air defense.
This could lead to critical compromise since the Turkish defense will have profiles of
F 35s already set for IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe ) and through S 400, Russia
could get that information.
In addition, having the S-400 linked into Turkish defense networks could potentially
give Russian analysts access to sensitive information that passes through the cloud-based,
multi-national Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) system of F 35s.
ALIS has critical mission data and flight routes.
US Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the head of US forces in Europe, told a Senate Armed
Services Committee had said, “My best military advice would be that we don't then follow
through with the F-35, flying it or working with an ally that's working with Russian systems,
particularly air-defense systems, with what I would say is probably one of most advanced
technological capabilities.”
NATO Allied Air Commander Gen. Tod Wolters had stated, “Anything that an S-400 can
do that affords it the ability to better understand a capability like the F-35 is certainly not
to the advantage of the coalition."
The American Patriot Missile System is manufactured by Raytheon.
It entered service in1981.
Patriot systems have been sold to many countries like the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Japan,
Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait to name a few.
The Patriot system is expected to remain in the service until at least 2040.
Russia's S 400 is designed by Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family.
It entered into service in 2007.
The system has been sold to China and India has also committed to acquiring it.
Let us now look at 3 aspects where S 400 is much better than Patriot.
The radar is the eye of an air defense system and is used to detect and track targets.
The AN/MPQ-65 Radar in Patriot Pac 3 is a passive electronically scanned array radar.
It is equipped with IFF (Identification friend or foe) and electronic counter-countermeasure
to resist jamming.
The radar has a range of around 160 km.
S 400 uses multiple radars depending on threat perception.
The primary one is either the 91N6E Big Bird Acquisition and Battle Management Radar or
92N6E Grave Stone Multimode Engagement Radar These have a range of around 600 km.
The main radar is complimented by target acquisition radars like 67N6 gamma de and 9N6 Protivnik
Ge radars in L band, Nebo SVU in the Very high-Frequency band and Nebo m in Multiband.
The nabob svn & zebu m have claimed capability against stealth aircraft.
Patriot Pac 3 introduced the new MIM-104F missile, which is also referred to as the
PAC-3 missile.
It has reduced size compared to previous Patriot missiles and is more maneuverable.
The missile uses 'hIt to kil'l strategy though it has small high fragmentation warhead to
enhance the kill probability.
For aerial targets, like aircraft & drones, Patriot MIM-104F missile has an engagement
range of 160 km whereas for ballistic missile it has a range of about 30 km.
S 400 deploys multiple missiles to cover its full strike envelope.
1. Very-long-range 40N6 (400 km)
2. Long-range 48N6 (250 km)
3. Medium-range 9M96E2 (120 km)
4. Short-range 9M96E (40 km)
For aerial targets like aircraft & drones, S 400 missile has maximum engagement range
of 400 km whereas for ballistic missile it has a range of about 60 km.
The maximum speed of targets for successful elimination is up to Mach 6.5 or 2,200 m/sec
for Patriot and Mach 14 or 4,800 m/sec for S 400.
So, S 400 can take down targets that the Patriot cannot handle.
This is very important as hypersonic missile are coming to fore.
The deployment time for Patriot is 30 min whereas its 5 min for S 400.
This means military commanders will find S 400 to more agile.
The launch angle of Patriot’s missile is 38 degree whereas for S 400 its 90 degrees.
The vertical launch enables missiles of S 400 to have seamless 360-degree target envelop.
Keeping all these aspects in view, it can be said that Mr. Erdogan is more or less correct
in his statement when he states that Russian S-400 is worth three American Patriots
It not a that Turkey is the only country that wants the S 400.
China received its first S 400 regiment in July last year.
It is reported that China has ordered two S-400 regiments for an estimated $3 billion.
On 5th Oct 2018, during India-Russia bilateral annual summit held in New Delhi, Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi & Russian President Vladimir Putin finalized the deal of S 400.
India will get 5 regiments of S 400 and the contract is worth 5.5 Billion USD.
The delivery is expected to start in the next year.
Major defense deals are often finalized based not only on the technical specification of
the platform but also taking in consideration of geopolitical situations.
Many times weapons with better capability lose out because a country may select a weapon
of slightly lesser quality if it is being delivered by a preferred nation.
Preference comes from many aspects like if the two nations have defense pacts, past experiences,
and alignment of interests.
This is the case with most nations that have gone with Patriot.
But if only the technical capabilities are taken into account, the S 400 is a better
system when compared to Patriot.