General Pavel: Russian S-400 in Turkey will constitute a major challenge for NATO systems
The Russian S-400 “Triumph” anti-air missile systems which Ankara bought from Moscow will constitute a major challenge for NATO’s weapon systems in Turkey, said Czech General Petr Pavel, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, in an interview with a group of journalists while on a work visit to Washington.
“The military assessment is still maintained that the S-400 is not compatible with NATO’s integrated system. And so, if the system is ultimately acquired, it must be used as a standalone unit. But even as a non-integrated system it will constitute a major challenge for the NATO equipment in Turkish territory. Turkey is naturally free to choose its own equipment, but every decision, whether personal or governmental, has consequences,” Pavel remarked.
“I will give you a simple example. The S-400 is an extremely hi-tech system, not just with respect to missiles, but also with respect to radar stations for target acquisition and radar stations for missile guidance to the target. The value of the system is in the database, and the database will be collected on the territory of a NATO ally, with allied assets present,” the commander replied when asked to explain what kind of challenge was meant.
“This system cannot be sold like a Kalashnikov. A Kalashnikov can be used the next day or even the next hour, even by an untrained person. When it comes to a system like the S-400, there needs to be a team of Russian experts in order to help install it, get it operational, and fill its database. It’s hard to imagine NATO experts spending several months in Russia collecting a database, and it’s just as hard to imagine Russian experts being in Turkey and filling a Russian system with NATO data,” Pavel emphasized.
“The latest thing we know [about Ankara’s contract to purchase the S-400] is that the contract was signed, a timetable was worked out for the shipment of the first two systems, and then, potentially, another two will be produced in Turkey,” the chairman of NATO’s Military Committee added.
In November 2016 it came out that Turkey was negotiating with Russia on the purchase of S-400s. On September 12, 2017, Russia confirmed that a contract had been made, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that an advance payment had already been made. Turkey became the first NATO member state to purchase an S-400 from Russia. The exact number of the anti-air defense systems to be supplied was not officially specified.