Cautious of US curbs, India to induct Russia S-400 systemsDespite the fear of the US sanctions, India is going ahead with its plan to induct S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems from Russia. Ahead of the deliveries beginning in September-October, a large IAF team will be leaving for Russia later this month. All five mobile squadrons of the S-400 air defence systems, under the $5.43 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) contract inked with Russia in October 2018, will be progressively delivered by April 2023. The highly-automated S-400s, which can detect, track and destroy hostile strategic bombers, jets, spy planes, missiles and drones at a range of 380-km, will be “suitably positioned in the western, northern and eastern sectors” to cater for threats from both China and Pakistan, say defence ministry sources. India remains “very hopeful” it will get a “national security waiver” by the incoming Biden administration from the US law CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act), which was enacted in 2017 to prevent countries from buying Russian weapons or Iranian oil, from the incoming Biden administration. The US has imposed financial sanctions on China and Turkey for inducting the S-400 systems from Russia.