Russia to train 100 China troops on S-400 operations

The troops “will undergo instruction at a Russian training center in the operation and combat uses of the second regimental set of the S-400 system (from March to June),” Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a military-diplomatic source.
The set is “to be provided to China in the second half of the year,” the source added.

In 2014, China ordered four to six S-400 regimental units for an estimated price of around $3 billion. In doing so, Beijing became the defense system’s first foreign purchaser.

A first group of Chinese forces were trained on using the unit, which was delivered last spring, and successfully tested late last year.

Back then, TASS cited a source as saying that the unit features “a command post, radar stations, launching stations, energy equipment [sic] and other property.”

The S-400 Triumf (with the NATO codename Growler) entered service in 2007 and is considered Russia’s most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system.

Capable of engaging targets at a distance of 400 kilometers (248 miles) and at an altitude of up to 30 kilometers (18 miles), the missile system can destroy aircraft as well as cruise and ballistic missiles. It can also be used against land-based targets.

Russia and Turkey also finalized an agreement on the delivery of the S-400 missile systems in December 2017. The latter is expected to take delivery of the systems between late this year and early next year.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are also holding talks with Moscow on the purchase of the equipment.

The United States has competitively sold and continues to sell its rival Patriot missile systems to regional countries to push back against Russia’s expanding influence among them.

Last year, however, the efficiency of the American equipment was brought into question after it failed to protect Saudi Arabia’s soil from retaliatory missiles fired by popular forces in Yemen, which the kingdom has invaded.