TAIPEI \u2014 A deal between Russia and China for procurement of the new S-400 air defense system will serve as a force multiplier for Beijing in its quest to dominate the skies along its borders, experts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 400-kilometer-range system will, for the first time, allow China to strike any aerial target on the island of Taiwan, in addition to reaching , the missile system will let China reach <\/span>air targets as far as New Delhi, Calcutta, Hanoi and Seoul. Total coverage of <\/span>The Yellow Sea and China’s new air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea will also be protected. The system will permit China, if need be, to strike any air target within North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The S-400 will also allow China to extend, but not dominate, the air defense space closer to the disputed Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, said Vasiliy Kashin, a China defense specialist at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Moscow. China refers to the islands as the Diaoyu, and tensions between Beijing and Japan have been increasing for over the past <\/span>several years as China continues to claim the islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China’s current inventory of S-300s, at a range of 300 kilometers, only allows it to strike targets along Taiwan’s northwestern coast and cannot reach has no range against <\/span>capital cities in India and South Korea, said Alexander Huang, chairman, Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies, Taipei. The S-400 will present a significant <\/span>challenge to<\/span> Taiwan’s ability to conduct air defense operations within its own ADIZ, which covers the Taiwan Strait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Of course, these new systems will also give China extra capability to deter and deny hostile air threats, making regional forces more cautious when operating near China,” Huang said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosoboronexport CEO Anatoly Isaikin announced the sale made the announcement <\/span>on April 13. He told news media outlets that the S-400 was in demand in the international market and that China would be the first export customer. No specifics were revealed, but the actual contract was most likely signed in the last quarter of 2014, Kashin said. He said believes <\/span>the deal will include four to six 4-6 <\/span>battalions at about US $3 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The S-400 is capable of intercepting missiles and air breathing targets, he said. Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state defense export agency, did not respond to Defense News DN <\/span>requests for additional information. Rosoboronexport is the Russian state’s defense export agency.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The S-400 is a decent system and an evolutionary progression of China’s air and missile defense modernization, said Mark Stokes, executive director of the Project 2049 Institute. “It would be interesting to know what specific missile variant is being exported, and where the systems would be deployed,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said the <\/span>Deployment of S-400 systems opposite Taiwan could naturally would <\/span>drive increased <\/span>Taiwan to increase investment into asymmetric capabilities designed to exploit vulnerabilities in China’s air defenses, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n