A US senator has prepared a proposal to buy Russian-made S-400 air defence systems from Turkey. According to Defence News, Senate Majority Whip John Thune has proposed an amendment to the 2021 National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) that would allow the purchase to be made using the US Army’s missile procurement account. The purchase has one condition however; Turkey will no longer buy systems that are not compatible with NATO.

Russia announced in September 2017 that it had signed a $2.5 billion deal with Turkey on the delivery of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to Ankara. Under the contract, Ankara received a regiment set of S-400 air defence missile systems (two battalions). The deal also envisages partial transfer of production technology to the Turkish side.

Turkey is the first NATO member state to purchase such air defence missile systems from Russia. The deliveries of S-400 launchers to Turkey began on July 12, 2019.a