Turkey's sale of the S-400 missile system has been a hot topic for a long time. There were previous concerns that Turkey was selling the S-400 missile to Pakistan. Recently, there was information that India may buy an S-400 missile system from Turkey.
However, Turkey has repeatedly stated that it will not sell the S-400 missile system it owns to any other country.
The S-400 complex, currently owned by Türkiye, was transferred to Russia in 2019. Under a $2.5 billion deal, Russia has handed Turkey over two S-400 missile regroupes. To carry out this deal, Turkey has been subject to US sanctions.
Turkish media reported that Russia proposed to buy back the S-400 missile that it sold to Ankara in 2019. Russia could then export the missile to a third country. Turkey's NATO allies will not consider Turkey's return of the S-400 complex as an arms export to Russia because Russia will immediately sell the missile system to another country.
To date, Russia has sold the S-400 missile system to a number of countries around the world, including India, China and Türkiye.
However, Turkey has not activated the S-400 missile system yet because it is a NATO member and has faced opposition from the US. The Russian-made missile system is still in Turkey's arsenal.
In 2024, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said that the country's S-400 complexes are active and can be deployed within 12 hours if mobilized.
In May 2024, the Turkish Defense Minister announced that Turkey would not sell S-400 missiles to any other country.
India bought the S-400 missile from Russia in 2018. To date, India has purchased a total of five S-400 complexes from Russia for US$5 billion. To date, 3 groups have been transferred. The remaining two transfers were delayed due to the conflict in Ukraine.
In that context, there is speculation that if Turkey returns the S-400 to Russia, the system could be upgraded and handed over to India. The S-400 variation that India has purchased has a range of 4 to 400km and can track 80 targets at the same time.
