The 2nd Combined Arms Army from Russian Central Military District have live-fired Iskander-M operational-tactical short-range ballistic missile system. After live-firing at the Totsky range, Iskander-M operators delivered a preemptive strike on tactical missile systems and other remote targets that determine the imaginary enemy’s military potential. A brigade of the Central Military District was earlier raised on alert for a snap check. More than 500 servicemen and 50 units of military equipment took part in the drills.
The 9K720 Iskander (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) is a mobile short-range ballistic missile system produced and deployed by the Russian Federation. The missile systems (ИÑкандер-Ðœ) are to replace the obsolete OTR-21 Tochka systems, still in use by the Russian armed forces, by 2020.The Iskander has several different conventional warheads, including a cluster munitions warhead, a fuel-air explosive enhanced-blast warhead, a high explosive-fragmentation warhead, an earth penetrator for bunker busting and an electromagnetic pulse device for anti-radar missions. The missile can also carry nuclear warheads.
Iskander-M is a variant for the Russian Armed Forces with two 9M723 quasi ballistic missiles with published range 415 km, rumoured 500 km. Speed Mach 6–7, flight altitude up to 6–50 km, nuclear capable stealth missile, controlled at all stages, not ballistic flight path. Immediately after the launch and upon approach to the target, the missile performs intensive maneuvering to evade anti-ballistic missiles. The missile constantly maneuvers during flight as well.
It can carry conventional and nuclear warheads up to 700 kg and employs a maneuverable re-entry vehicle (MaRV) and decoys to defeat theater missile defense systems. Conventional warheads that can be equipped by the Iskander include cluster warheads, fuel-air explosives, bunker-busters, and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads. The missile was first combat-tested in 2008 during the Russo-Georgian War, when several conventionally-equipped Iskander-Ms were used by the Russian Army to strike targets in Gori, Georgia. By 2016, the Russian Defense Ministry plans to buy up to 120 Iskander-Ms and distribute them amongst five missile brigades.
