Russia-Turkey Agreement on S-400 Joint Production to Be Signed by April 2020 - Source

ANKARA (Sputnik) - The supply of the second battalion of Russian S-400 air defence missile systems to Turkey supposes joint production and transfer of technologies, a contract on this is to be signed by April 2020, a source in the Turkish defence industry said Friday.

“The agreement with Russia on the purchase of S-400 includes two battalions. The first of them has already been delivered. Now training is in progress, and in April next year, the systems will be fully mounted. The agreement does not envisage joint production and transfer of technologies for this battalion; the systems came to Turkey completely manufactured in Russia,” the source said.

According to him, the negotiations that are ongoing regarding joint production concern the second battalion of the S-400.

“The contract on its supply has been signed, the talks concern not the purchase, but the joint production and transfer of technologies. Talks have been ongoing for a long time, the parties can't be unable to agree. Nobody can name the exact date of signing the agreement on joint production, but this should happen before April next year,” the source said.

This comes amid an ongoing confrontation between Turkey and the US over S-400 systems that Ankara bought from Russia earlier this year. As part of the latest measures taken by the US to press Turkey to abandon its plans concerning the S-400s, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved an act which stipulates sanctions against Ankara over the purchase of Russian air defence systems. Turkey has said that it could force the US to leave the Incirlik airbase unless Washington abandons its sanctions plan.