Turkey May Buy Russia's S-300 Air Defense System

Turkey is still considering purchasing Russia’s S-300 air and missile defense system, according the deputy head of Rosoboronexport— Russia’s state-owned arms exporter.
Turkey is currently looking to spend between $3.4-$4 billion on an air and missile defense system as part of its T-LORAMIDS program. Russia had put in a bid for its Antey-2500 air defense system (the export version of the S-300) for that contract, along with defense companies from Europe, the United States and China..
In September 2013, Turkey shocked many by announcing it had selected the proposal submitted by China (CPMEIC) to jointly develop its HQ-9 system (FT-2000). This raised the hackles of Ankara’s NATO allies, including the United States, who said the HQ-9 system was not interoperable with NATO’s larger, Patriot-based air defense system.
In addition, many NATO allies, including Washington, said that connecting the HQ-9 to NATO’s Patriot systems would leave the latter vulnerable to Chinese espionage. Furthermore, CPMEIC, the maker of the HQ-9, is under U.S. sanctions because of its arms sales to countries like North Korea and Iran.
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