India / Training Indian soldiers, numbers won't tell: Russian company on S-400 missile system

According to Vyacheslav Zerkaln, deputy CEO of the Russian company Almaz-Antiye, the supply of S-400 missile defense systems to India will begin by the end of 2021. According to Vyacheslav, "The training of the first batch of Indian soldiers has been completed... the second batch is in progress... I will not give the numbers." India had signed a deal to purchase S-400 missile defense systems in 2018 for $5.43 billion

Moscow: The deputy CEO of the air and space defense concern Almaz-Antey, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln on Monday said Russia will begin to deliver surface-to-air missile defence system (SAM) S-400 by end of the year 2021.

"I can confirm that we will deliver [the S-400 system to India] by the end of 2021 in accordance with the schedule and contractual obligations of the Russian side," Dzirkaln said while interacting at International Military-Technical Forum "ARMY-2021".

He also said that at the present Indian military personnel training is underway in operating the S-400.

"As for the training, the first group of Indian specialists have completed the training. The second group is undergoing training. I would not talk about the number of people but it is a sufficient number for the Indian armed forces to effectively operate our equipment. I would like to say that the results shown by the first group of Indian specialists after the training were very high. I would like to note the [high] level of training of Indian specialists," the deputy CEO said.

In October 2018, India had signed a USD 5.43 billion deal with Russia for five S-400 regiments.