Turkey to produce long-range air defence missiles, Erdogan says

FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, October 30, 2018. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has started work on making its first domestically produced long-range air defence missile system and the first delivery is planned for 2021, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

Turkey is also purchasing S-400 surface-to-air missiles from Russia. State-owned Anadolu news agency quoted Defence Minister Hulusi Akar as saying last week that the installation of the S-400 missile system would begin in October, 2019.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Dominic Evans)