KUBINKA/Moscow Region/, June 26. /TASS/. The supplies of S-400 missile system to Turkey will begin in June and there is 99% readiness for that, CEO of Russia’s arms exporter Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheyev told the Army-2019 International Military-Technical Forum on Wednesday.

"The readiness to supply the first batch of the S-400 is 99%," Mikheyev said, noting that logistic issues were being solved.

According to Rosoboronexport’s CEO, the contract would be fulfilled within a record timeframe.

The first reports that Russia and Turkey were in talks on the S-400 supplies emerged in November 2016. Moscow confirmed that the contract had been signed in September 2017. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said back then that the deployment of S-400 systems would begin in October 2019. According to Sergei Chemezov, the director general of Russia’s Rostec state corporation, the contract’s price tag is $2.5 bln. Turkey is the first NATO member state to buy these missile systems from Russia. The US has been vigorously trying to stonewall the S-400 deal. Earlier Washington warned Ankara that should the deal with Russia be implemented, the US would not supply its F-35 fighter-bombers to Turkey.

The S-400 Triumf is the most advanced long-range air defense missile system that went into service in Russia in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and can also be used against ground installations. The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km.

The Army-2019 forum runs at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center outside Moscow on June 25-30. Exhibition events will also take place in other Russian regions. According to preliminary estimates, the forum in Russia will be attended by over 1,500 enterprises that will demonstrate more than 27,000 products and technologies.