India’s Purchase of the S-400: Understanding the CAATSA Conundrum

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India’s Purchase of the S-400: Understanding the CAATSA Conundrum

26 Jun 2024

Introduction The first Indian military team has left for Russia to commence training on the S-400 air defence system, [1] deliveries of which are expected to begin in end-2021. This event has once again thrown into sharp focus the friction that India’s enduring defence relationship with Russia creates with India-US bilateral ties. Days before the Indian team headed out, sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) were applied to Turkey for procurement of the same system. [2] Yet New Delhi appears determined to proceed with the $5.2-billion deal, having concluded that the S-400 was cost-effective and will be efficient in meeting India’s defence needs as compared to rival systems. The Indian government has stressed that negotiations were already underway before CAATSA came into being in 2017, with the Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) for its procurement having been signed in 2016 during the 17 th India-Russia summit in Goa. The contract for its supply was concluded in 2018, and in recent years, India and Russia have signed a number of additional defence deals across domains, including guided missile frigates, T-90 battle tanks, and lease of a nuclear-powered attack submarine. [3]
indian defence

Authors

Kashish Parpiani

Attribution
Kashish Parpiani, Nivedita Kapoor, and Angad Singh, “India’s Purchase of the S-400: Understanding the CAATSA Conundrum,” ORF Special Report No. 129, February 2021, Observer Research Foundation.
Published in
India

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