S-400 missile system that Ankara plans to buy from Russia will not be integrated into NATO missile defense system, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık said on Thursday.
“The Russian S-400 system will not be integrated into NATO missile defense system,” Işık said.
On Wednesday, Turkish Defense Minister said that Ankara and Moscow made certain progress in talks on delivery of Russian-made S-400 air defense systems to Turkey, but the sides are still not ready to strike a deal.
Russia’s Rostech CEO Sergei Chemezov earlier confirmed that Moscow and Ankara were in talks on deliveries of S-400 air defense systems to Turkey. The S-400 is Russia’s next-generation air defense system, carrying three different types of missiles capable of destroying aerial targets at a short-to-extremely-long range. The weapon is capable of tracking and destroying all existing aerial targets, including ballistics and cruise missiles.
Turkey canceled last November its $4-billion tender for the procurement of components for a domestic missile defense system announced in 2009.