OREANDA-NEWS. Turkey expects that the supply of the second battery of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system will take place this month or in September. This was announced on Monday by the Minister of Defense of the country Hulusi Akar.

"The delivery time for the second S-400 battery is August-September. Work is underway to determine the location of the future deployment of the complex," the Hurriyet newspaper quoted him as saying. According to the head of the Ministry of Defense, after the termination of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles between Russia and the US, Turkey’s need for the S-400 "is growing even more".

He also said that the American side made a new proposal by Turkey on the acquisition of Patriot missile defense systems. "We want the paradigm of our relationship to change and the US to act in accordance with our strategic partnership", Akar added. Turkey for several years tried to negotiate with the United States on the sale of Patriot systems to it, but Washington did not make such a deal, and therefore Ankara decided to purchase missile defense assets from Russia.

In September 2017, the Russian Federation announced a contract with Turkey for the supply of S-400, its cost is $ 2.5 billion. Ankara will receive a regiment set (two divisions). The contract implies a partial transfer of production technologies to the Turkish side. The first deliveries began on July 12th. The US and NATO are actively opposing the acquisition of S-400 by Turkey. On July 17, a White House spokeswoman in a written statement said that Turkey’s decision to acquire the Russian S-400 air defense system made it impossible for her to continue participating in the fifth-generation F-35 American fighter-bombers program.