China was the first foreign state to sign a $3 billion contract in 2015 to buy two cutting edge air defence systems from Russia, which arrived in the Asian state in May 2018.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has conducted a successful test of one of the Russian S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name SA-21 Growler) air defence systems, which were supplied in May 2018, Russian media reported. During the test the S-400 reportedly shot down a ballistic target almost 250 kilometres away and moving at a speed of around 3 kilometres per second.

According to the report, the opposing force on the drills actively used jamming equipment to test the S-400's ability to withstand methods of electronic warfare and still strike down targets.

Chinese officials haven't commented on the report yet.

The $3 billion contract to supply S-400s to China was signed back in 2015, with first system arriving in 2018. The last components of the second S-400 arrived only in May after a slight delay — some of them were damaged in storms during the initial shipment and were later replaced by the manufacturer.

Following the signing of the contract with China, several other states expressed interest in the S-400s, including India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and others.

The S-400 is cutting edge Russian air defence system, capable of detecting and shooting down targets, including ballistic missiles, enemy jets and drones, at ranges up to 600 kilometres at altitudes between 10 metres and 27 kilometres. Each system can simultaneously shell 36 targets moving at speeds of up to 4,800 metres per second with 72 ground-to-air missiles.