New Delhi. As part of its increasing defence cooperation with Russia and modernizing the armed forces, India is holding talks with Russia to locally manufacture components of the Russian-made Almaz-Antei S-400 Triumf air defense system in India.

The Russian company Rostec which already has an agreement with Turkey to locally produce “certain components” of this air defence system, its head Sergey Chemezov said the company was “discussing the localization of S-400 production with India as well.”

He said India is already license-producing Russian Su-30 fighter jets and the T-90 tanks and that even BrahMos missiles have been developed in Indian with Russian collaboration.

The S-400 can be armed with a host of different missiles including the air defense system’s most advanced interceptor, the 40N6E, in addition to an improved variant of the 48N6E2, as well as the 9M96E and 9M96E2.

India and Russia signed a $5.5 billion contract for five S-400 squadrons for service in the Indian Air Force during the 2018 bilateral summit between the two countries.

The United States threatened sanctions against India for the procurement of the Russian weapons systems under U.S. legislation known as the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).