S-400 Missile System:
US House of Representatives has passed a legislative amendment that approves a waiver to India against the punitive CAATSA sanctions for its purchase of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia to help deter aggressors like China.
- Ro Khanna, the US representative from California’s 17th congressional district said, “The United States must stand with India in the face of escalating aggression from China.
- The US has already imposed sanctions on Turkey under the CAATSA for the purchase of a batch of S-400 missile defence systems from Russia.
- CAATSA authorises the US administration to impose sanctions on countries that purchase major defence hardware from Russia.
- Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)‘s core objective is to counter Iran, Russia and North Korea through punitive measures.
- It was passed in 2017 in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea (2014) and its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections.
- Sanctions that may be imposed: prohibition on loans, prohibition of Export-Import bank assistance, prohibition on procurement of goods or services, denial of visas to persons.
About S-400:
- The S-400 Triumf is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system developed in the 1990s.
- It is the most dangerous operationally deployed modern long-range SAM (MLR SAM) in the world, considered much ahead of the US-developed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD).
- India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia (in 2018) to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems.
