Will Türkiye use S-400 to counter Russian aircraft in Syria?

The S-400 air defense system that Türkiye has purchased from Russia is capable of turning Ankara’s airspace into a no-fly zone for all enemy bombers and fighters, making the NATO member’s borders impregnable. So will Russia let Turkey operate its most powerful weapon as the situation in Idlib worsens?

Türkiye is one of the first customers to buy the Russian S-400 Triumf air defense system. This is the most advanced air defense system in the world and the pride of Moscow's military and technological complex. Ankara has ordered two S-400 systems and the delivery is expected to be completed between April and May 2020. The contract was signed in 2018, with a value of about $2.5 billion. Previously, in July 2019, Türkiye received a batch of equipment for the S-400 air defense system from Russia.

Amid escalating tensions in Idlib, northwestern Syria, whether Ankara will actually receive these weapons depends on the outcome of negotiations between Turkish President Erdogan and President Putin on the situation in Syria in mid-March 2020.

The power of the S-400

Known as the world's most powerful anti-missile air defense system, the S-400 was developed from the S-75 missile system that shot down the US U-2 spy plane over Russia in 1960. The power of this system is the reason why many countries such as China, India, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia want to line up to buy it at all costs. With a tracking range of about 600km, the ability to destroy aerial targets at a range of up to 400km, an altitude of 30km, and a dizzying speed of 17,000km/hour, the S-400 is truly a formidable air defense weapon.

Each S-400 battery consists of four launchers with 16 missiles (each launcher is equipped with four missiles), capable of shooting down fifth-generation fighters and cruise missiles at a range of 200 km. The contract between Russia and Türkiye also includes the transfer of a number of transport vehicles, radar stations, command posts and other support vehicles. In addition, Turkish air defense gunners - who operate the S-400 system - will be trained and educated in Russia.

Risk factors

So, will Türkiye use the S-400 system to counter Russian aircraft if a full-scale conflict breaks out in Idlib, Syria? Analysts have given different opinions on this possibility. Editor-in-Chief of the Russian magazine Arsenal of the Fatherland, Viktor Murakhovsky, said: "Theoretically, it is possible because under the contract, Russia will hand over to Türkiye not only the missile system but also part of the S-400 technology."

However, military analyst Viktor Litovkin dismissed any such scenario: “We do not provide third countries with access codes to our precision strike weapons. Components of any air defense system in the world are kept highly secret and, if they are, are leaked only at the manufacturing plant. If we launch a full production cycle in Turkey, it could happen, but according to the contract between Moscow and Ankara, maintenance of the S-400 will be carried out at the factories of the Almaz-Antey missile corporation in Russia.” “This is an identification system capable of determining whether air targets are friend or foe,” Viktor Litovkin added.

“This is not the first time that Russia has supplied a NATO member with precision weapons that could turn against us in a conflict. Similar questions arose in 1996 when Moscow sold the S-300 air defense system to Greece, which could shoot down any fighter or bomber available at the time,” Viktor Litovkin added.

Meanwhile, The Drive revealed information that Russia is said to have pre-installed a friend-or-foe system into the S-400 air defense system that it sold to Türkiye, so although they become killers for enemy aircraft, they are completely harmless to Russian aircraft./.