Russia built 'surprises' in S-400 air defence missile systems supplied to China

Moscow | Russia had delivered its advanced S-400 air defence missile systems to China with in- built “surprises” perplexing its eastern neighbour, local news portal ABN24 reported.

Russian S-400 Triumf air defence systems have a reputation as the best systems in the world in their class. They are distinguished by good characteristics, versatility and the ability to intercept various types of air targets.

In 2014, Beijing signed a multi-billion dollar contract with Moscow to purchase several S-400 divisions.

Several years later, curious details of that deal were revealed, according to ABN24 at that time, the deal attracted worldwide attention and was considered an important symbol of Chinese-Russian military cooperation, as well as a key step for China to strengthen its national air defence capabilities.

However, analysts of Chinese Internet Service Sohu have noted that the S-400 systems delivered to China are rarely mentioned today.

In addition, they rarely appear in public reports from the Chinese military, and there is virtually no news about their deployment and use.

According to Chinese journalists, China was counting heavily on Russian air defence systems. They were supposed to be the key to creating a powerful Chinese air defence system as these systems are truly excellent weapons.

However, one important fact was not taken into account: Russia took care of its own interests by building a surprise into the S-400. China believes that Russia gave China a greatly simplified version of its equipment, with some of its advanced functions blocked.

“Apparently, export versions of the S-400 may be limited in key technologies,” Beijing was surprised.

According to Chinese journalists, Russia is thus protecting its technological secrets from being copied and also limiting the ability of foreign armies to compete with its armed forces.

The Sohu analysts noted that local Chinese specialists wanted to adopt key Russian technologies and implement them in their own developments, but they did not succeed in doing so to the extent that Beijing wanted.

“The (Chinese) military’s efforts to gain access to the blocked functions of the S-400 were also unsuccessful. As a result, all these attempts were abandoned, and the systems were deployed in the south of the country,” Russian news portal reported.

When asked for comments, a Russian defence source confirmed the practice of in-built safeguards to protect Russian assets in case of conflict with the buyer countries.

All weapons systems with index E for export are with truncated capabilities. However, with trusted and tested countries who are highly unlikely to be Russia’s potential adversary the case is different.

“For example, the same weapon systems with index ‘I’ (India) and “K” (China in Russian) may have significantly different capabilities,” the Russian defence expert said.