India has picked Russia’s Igla-S missile system as the choice for the Army’s multibillion dollar contract for man-portable air defence systems, officials said on Monday.

“The Igla-S bid from Rosoboronexport of Russia has been declared the L1 in the Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) deal,” said a defence official on condition of anonymity.

The declaration of the Russian bid as the lowest, which was reached after a series of delays that saw several trials and retrials, still doesn’t guarantee a certain transaction given some concerns about the possible threat of U.S. sanctions for arms purchases from Russia.

The other bidders were MBDA of France and SAAB of Sweden.

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