I Don't Think So.

US halts deliveries of F-35 "equipment" to Turkey over S-400 contract. This is how F-35 soap saga is justified:

The United States and other NATO allies (fear) that own F-35s fear the radar on the Russian S-400 missile system will learn how to spot and track the jet, making it less able to evade Russian weapons in the future.In an attempt to persuade Turkey to drop its plans to buy the S-400, the United States offered the pricier American-made Patriot anti-missile system in a discounted deal that expired at the end of March. Turkey has shown interest in the Patriot system, but not at the expense of abandoning the S-400.

There is one problem, actually two, with this "justification". I'll start with a lesser one.

1. Patriot is not a peer to S-400. Nothing personal, but US AD systems are not "quite there" despite massive propaganda campaigns extolling their combat virtues. Turkey knows this. Turks have a good idea about how its own Air Force was grounded after shooting down Russian SU-24 in November 2015, and who and what actually provided targeting to Syrian AD on April 13, 2018 against Trump's "very smart missiles". Plus, in general, Russian record in this field speaks for itself.   

2. The most laughable in all that, however, is the fact that people still use this beaten to death argument about Turkey magically learning about how to shoot down allegedly super-pooper-duper invisible F-35 and then, of course, giving desperate Russians this information. Well, I have some news for those people who still reside in this bubble--to shoot down F-35 one has to have two different bands radar, good sensor-fusion algorithms and decent signal processing protocols and voila'. S-300 PMU2 Favorit can do this, certainly S-400, and its inevitably coming iterations for which there is literally a line of customers, can. In general, this whole BS about "stealth" should end at some point of time--it was a good propaganda while it lasted. Reality is, with modern processing power and radar design F-35 is not survivable against modern cutting edge air-defense and air-forces. 

I can totally understand the irritation Washington feels about this whole situation, after all Turkey is a key NATO member with actual army, and seeing NATO member going for such a weapon systems from Washington's prime time arch enemy--this is a no-no. But then comes this question: so, the United States will stop (will it?) F-35 and associated technology deliveries to Turkey, then what? Do we really want to open this can of worms? Turks are not idiots, by far--they can calculate and while Erdo might still do rapid 180 degrees maneuver, he also can not fail to consider the fact that instead of F-35 Turkey may get her hands on, say, some decent version of SU-35. Possible? Possible! How probable? I don't know. But Obama should have thought twice when unleashing, or pretending that he didn't know,  a coup against Erdogan in 2016. Or, for that matter, a bloody overthrow of government in Ukraine in 2014. But current American elites have no concept of own actions having consequences.

Meanwhile India also signed $5 billion contact for S-400, also against the background of Washington's pressure not to buy things from those pesky Russians. But behind all those maneuvers one fact remains unchanged and I was writing about this for years--Russian weapons systems are created to kill and do that very effectively. Unlike American military-industrial complex Russian military-industrial complex is not jobs program or corporate welfare system, it never was.  Allow me to quote myself:

For a nation with such a military history as Russia’s the issue of military technology is an issue of survival. As such, weapons in Russia are sacralized because behind them are generations of Russians who shed blood to make those weapons what they are. They have become a part of the culture to such a degree that commercial considerations take a very distant second place to a main purpose of these weapons—to actually defend the nation. This is absolutely not the case in the United States, with some exception for its Navy, with Americans having no knowledge or recollection of what real war is and what instruments for fighting and winning it are needed. Those things cannot be paid for in money, they are paid for in blood.

I guess this should help explain why Russia is so successful on the international market with her weapons. They are simply good, in fact, the best and people know that.

As Was Expected.

India and Russia on Friday formally sealed the USD 5 billion S-400 air defence system deal and signed eight pacts at the annual bilateral summit in New Delhi even as the US gave a guarded response over the development. The signing of defence deal between India and Russia may invite US sanctions. However, in a guarded statement, the US embassy in New Delhi said that its intent to slap sanctions against Russia was not aimed at imposing damage to the military capabilities of its “allies or partners”, PTI reported.  The US reaction came shortly after India concluded a deal for purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia. After wide-ranging talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed the defence deal despite the US warning. Both the sides also talked about taking “decisive” action without “double standards” to tackle the menace of terrorism. 

The actual number (sum) of S-400 contract is quite a bit more (in Russian) but no matter--one way or another, the Russian Air Defense complex with the moniker "Triumph" is definitely triumphant both as a weapon system and as a hi tech commercial item. Of course, expect now all kinds of media military "experts" pretend that they know what it all means and how this means nothing but the truth is simple: Russia gets to keep her clients and she gets them all over Eurasia. Eight other major agreements, ranging from shipbuilding to space, have been signed between Russia and India and, something tells me (wink, wink) that the project for India's fifth generation fighter is far from dead. And, of course (rumors are already in the air) T-14 Armata is supposed to be also on a shopping list...somewhere. All in all, productive summit and, I am sure, new sanctions will follow if not now, then later. It is all about business, folks. 

Now, one is forced to ask a question--what future holds for arms trade. I already know at least partial answer to this. Russians when promising to become number one in arms sales are not bluffing, nor US is slapping sanctions on Russia left and right non-stop just because US elites are viscerally Russo-phobic, which they are, but that is not the only factor. The competition in real hi-tech markets--aerospace, weapons, energy extraction, just to name a few--is heating up. And while Wall Street is busy pretending that Walgreen's or Amazon really matter, the actual and reliable indicator of economic development is good ol' military and actual capabilities it generates. This explains well why the US slapped recently sanctions on Russian companies which are involved in MC-21 manufacturing, such as AeroComposite. US will try to sabotage MC-21 getting anywhere near international market, especially with PD-14 engine. One of the ways to do so is to slap the breaks on, as one of the desperate measures, sale of MC-21 with Honeywell avionics. Sure. The problem, of course, in this approach (for Honeywell) is that the nation (Russia) which produces 100% domestic avionics for SU-35C or SU-57, which makes any commercial aircraft avionics look tame compared to military one, will have no (in fact it is NOT having) problems with fully domestic substitutes which are already available for MC-21. So, who loses? The answer is self-evident. But about this later.  

Meanwhile Russian evilness and monstrosity have no limits, now Russians are guilty of creating a deficit of.... chocolate. The depth of Russian depravity is literally--limitless.