Posted on 04/27/2009 6:36:20 AM PDT by pobeda1945
ISTANBUL, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - Turkey, a NATO member, has expressed interest in buying S-400 Triumf air defense systems from Russia, a Russian defense industry official said on Monday.
"Turkey has expressed a strong interest in buying S-400 air defense systems from Russia," said Anatoly Aksenov, a senior adviser to the general director of Russian arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport.
Russia is exhibiting over 120 types of weaponry at the IDEF 2009 arms show in Istanbul on April 27-30. The biennial exhibition has been organized by the Turkish defense industry since 1993.
Aksenov, who leads the Russian delegation at the IDEF 2009 exhibition, said the possible deliveries of the S-400 to Turkey were discussed during talks with Turkey's undersecretary for defense industries, Murad Bayar.
A source in the Russian delegation later told RIA Novosti that the issue had a political aspect and strongly depended on the outcome of the ongoing dispute between Russia and NATO on the deployment of a U.S. missile shield in central Europe.
"We have explained to Turkish officials that S-400 is not just a simple air defense system but an element of strategic missile defenses, which can be placed in one country but protect the airspace over a number of neighboring countries," the source said.
The S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) is designed to intercept and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles), twice the range of the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot, and 2 1/2 times that of Russia's S-300PMU-2.
The system is also believed to be able to destroy stealth aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, and is effective at ranges up to 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) and speeds up to 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) per second.
Don’t NATO members have to have similar armaments to other member states?
I could be wrong (probably am) but I thought that NATO members had to have similar and comparable armaments to other NATO members. Or is that just for Ammo?
Wouldn’t having Russian weapons (and being dependent on them for spare parts and ammo) make Turkey and NATO as a whole to an extent vulnerable in the event of hostilities with Russia?
Maybe Obama should have kept his trap shut about Armenian genocide.
Isn’t Turkey supposed to be a NATO ally?
Hmmmm... Yeah.
Well, the donks have blocked our own development of missile defense. It seems to me that by having a NATO country by the Russian system, we could get access to their tech...
Yeah, who remembers them Armenians anyway?
Why not? Russian defensive systems worked so well for Iraq.
2 things
1. your claim about obama is false - he did not use the word genocide to describe what the Turks did to the Christians even though during the campaign he promised that he would - he lied.
2. you sound like a dhimmi.
Yeah, who remembers them Armenians anyway?
A. Hitler
Quite possibly a trial balloon to judge the scale of the reaction, Turkey being in NATO and all, and it’s grudging help to the US visavis the invasion of Iraq.
A sign that the split in the Turkish Military, between the Eurasianists and the Old Guard, is deepening. The former seek closer ties towards the East, including with historical enemies like Russia and Armenia, and to the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, while the latter look to America, NATO, and the mythical and fabled EU membership.
The first genocide of the 20th century was the one perpetrated by Turk Muslims against the rightful owners of Asia Minor the Christians.
Deal with it.
http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/armen_genocide.htm
Actually it seems that the opinion of the Armenian Diaspora in the US and that of Armenia differ, the latter wish to get the Turkish border open for trade and access and don’t want the US Congress mucking around with resolutions or setting “right” historical wrongs.
Don;t be so quick to judge what is going on in Armenia.
The overwhelming majority of Armenains are fully in agreement that Turkey must repent and reparate and give back land they illegally occupy
Apropos of nothing — a North Korean fighter squadron fought against Israel out of Egyptian bases in 1973.
Not exactly the smartest move by the Russians, but its good we'll have one to play with.
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