India May Become 1st in Line to Buy Russian Air Defense System S-500

MOSCOW, December 13 (Sputnik) - India may become the first in line to but Russian air defense system S-500, if it expresses such a desire, after the Russian Armed Forces receive them in required quantity, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said.

"India will probably be the first on the list if it expresses a desire to buy these modern means," Borisov said in an interview with the RBC broadcaster.

He specified that Russia would export the S-500s only after these systems are delivered to the Russian troops in the required quantity.

In November, Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheev told Sputnik that the export of the latest Russian anti-aircraft missile defense system S-500 will begin in the next few years. According to him, the first deliveries of the S-500 to the Russian military are planned before the end of this year.

The cutting-edge S-500 air defence system is capable of intercepting an array of aerial threats ranging from unmanned vehicles (UAV) to hypersonic and ballistic missiles at ranges up to 600 kilometres. A single system can track up to 10 hypersonic targets and detect hostile targets even in lower layers of space at altitudes up to 2,000 kilometres. S-500's main focus though is fighting off intermediate-range ballistic missiles.