ISKANDER-M MISSILE SYSTEM
Source: The Indian Express
Context
Russia has promised its ally Belarus delivery of nuclear-capable missiles to take on an aggressive west.
Russia will transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions.
The Missle system
- Code-named "SS-26 Stone" by NATO, Iskander-M is a term used by Russia to define both the Transporter-Erector Launch System and the Short-Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM) it fires.
- The system can also fire Ground-Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCMs).
- The Iskander-M system is exclusively used by the Russian Military, whereas Iskander-E is the one meant for export.
Firepower
- The Iskander-M missile has a range of 500 km and it can carry a payload of up to 700 kg.
- It is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.
- The conventional warheads can be equipped with Cluster Bombs, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Warheads and Bunker-Buster Munitions, according to the US-based Missle Defence Advocacy Alliance (MDAA).
- The export variant Iskander-E has a range of 280 km with a reduced 480 kg payload.
Development
- The Iskander system was inducted by Russia in 2006, it is development picked pace in the late 1980s after the OTR-23 "OKA" Ballistic Missile was banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
- The Oka was Russia's first attempt to replace the Soviet Scud Missiles, Iskander was the Second.
- Russia first used the Iskander in combat in Georgia in 2008.
- The US-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says that the Iskander Missiles are designed to confuse missile defences by flying at a low trajectory and manoeuvring in flight to strike targets with an accuracy of around two to five meters.
Projection power
- Russia made the Belarus announcement at the time when the G-7 meets in Germany.
- It is also one more time that Putin has raised nuclear weapons as a sort of warning to the West against climbing the escalations ladder in the Ukraine War.
- Russia has used the Iskander system to project power against Europe, more so because of its ability to be fitted with tactical nuclear warheads.
- In 2012, Moscow said that the weapon could be used to target Europe's missile defences.
- The Iskander system has already been deployed in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave, from where it can be fired to target NATO forces in Poland, the Baltic States and Sweden.
