Iskander SRBM: weapons of missile terror

The Russian Iskander mobile short-range ballistic missile system became not only a means of defeating military facilities but also a terror weapon against Ukrainian civilians.

In this article, you will learn about the history, system components, characteristics, nomenclature of missiles, and their combat use.

Development of Iskander

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR and the Council of Ministers of the USSR ordered the development of the Iskander mobile short-range ballistic missile system on December 21, 1988. The order under the number 1452-294 was called “About the beginning of experimental and design works on the creation of the Iskander SRBM.”

It was planned that the new complex would replace OTR-23 Oka, which began to be liquidated after the signing of the “The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.” Notably, the Oka did not fall under this treaty since it had a range of up to 400 kilometers.

The decision to list the system was made by the USSR leadership, namely — by Mikhail Gorbachev.

As a result, there was a need for missiles that had a conventional warhead as well as the efficiency that would arise when using special (nuclear) warheads.

This problem could be solved by the accuracy of the missile, which couldn’t be provided just by ordinary inertial control systems. Therefore, engineers had to think about the creation of a new missile control system that would allow it to be controlled during the entire flight.

That would allow the Iskander system to hit moving and fixed targets, making it the Oka-Uof alternative.

A duo of launchers and reconnaissance equipment, called “Ravenstvo,” was supposed to make a large number of launches in the shortest possible time. According to the plan, 20-40 targets’ hits per hour, which is why it was decided to place two missiles in the launcher.

Iskander began to be developed by the forces of the KB Mashinostroyeniya in the city of Kolomna, under the leadership of Sergei Nepobedimy.

Soon, in 1992, after the Soviet Union collapsed, the development of the complex slowed due to financial problems, but the episodic work somehow continued. The complex was first shown at the MAKS-1999 air show.

The system was taken into service in 2006, and serial production began the same year.

Iskander

9К720 Iskander is designed to prepare and launch effective missile attacks on especially important targets— small-size and planar—in the depths of the operational construction of enemy troops.

Typical targets of the system are missile systems, MLRS, long-range artillery, aircraft and helicopters at airfields, command posts, and communication units.

It’s interesting that the Russians determine the destruction of the most important objects of civil infrastructure as one of the tasks of the complex.

The 9P78-1 self-propelled launcher developed by the Titan-Barrikady, in addition to two missiles, includes the entire set of devices for the preparation and conduct of launches.

It is built on the MZKT-7930 chassis, the total weight is 42 tons, the payload reaches 19 tons, the speed of movement on highways does not exceed 70 kilometers per hour, on gravel roads — up to 40. The 9P78-1 crew consists of three people.

The system includes a 9Т250 or 9Т250Е transport and charging vehicle designed to transport two missiles and charge them. It is also built on the MZKT-7930 chassis and is additionally equipped with a loading crane. The combat weight is 40 tons, and the crew is 2 people.

The system is controlled from a command post vehicle based on the KAMAZ 43101. The command post vehicle is equipped with a R-168-100КА Aqueduct radio, and the crew consists of four people.

The system also includes a maintenance vehicle designed to check missile systems before launch, the crew of which consists of two people. There is also an information preparation post designed to calculate and transfer data to launchers. The crew also consists of two people. Vehicles are based on the KAMAZ 43101 chassis.

In addition, the system includes a life-support vehicle on the KAMAZ 43118 chassis, which provides accommodation for personnel of the entire system.

According to official data, each missile brigade of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation should include one set that includes 12 launchers, 12 transport and charging vehicles, 11 command-staff vehicles, 14 life support vehicles, one information preparation station, one maintenance vehicle, a set of training equipment, a set of portable automated workplaces, a set of arsenal equipment, and a stock of missiles of two types – ballistic and cruise.

Missiles

Iskander missiles come in two types – quasi-ballistic and cruise.

9М720, 9М723, 9М723М is a solid-fuel, single-stage rocket with an inseparable head part, controlled throughout the flight path by aero- and gasdynamic rudders. The estimated range of the missile is approximately 500 kilometers.

The launch weight of the missile is 3800 kg, and the mass of the warhead, depending on the version, is an average of 480 kg.

The flight path is not ballistic but controlled, which is why such missiles are called quasi-ballistic.

The missile constantly changes the plane of its trajectory; it begins to actively maneuver in the area of its acceleration and approach to the target – with overloads ranging from 20 to 30 G.

Such maneuvers create difficulties in missile interception: the anti-missile needs to move along a trajectory with overloads 2-3 times higher, which is very difficult.

In addition, the difficulty of intercepting the missile lies in the altitude of the flight, which in some areas is about 50 kilometers. In addition, the missile is made in a design with a small radar cross section and covered with a special coating.

The missile can be equipped with electronic warfare modules, which can also significantly complicate its interception.

The missile is output to the target using an inertial control system, and then the target is captured by a 9B918 autonomous optical homing head. By the way, the idea of such a system was taken from Oka-U.

The principle of operation of the homing system is that the optical head forms a map of the terrain in the target area, and then the system compares the map with the data entered before launch.

The optical head, according to the Russians, has good resistance to EW and allows it to start on moonless nights when there is no natural illumination of the area.

9М723 can be equipped with the following warheads:

• cluster warhead with fragmentation elements of non-contact detonation;
• cluster warhead with PTAB-2.5КО HEAT-Frag bomblets;
• cluster warhead with targetable bomblets;
• cluster warhead of vacuum bomblets;
• high-explosive warhead;
• high-explosive incendiary warhead;
• penetrating warhead.

Cluster warheads initiate at an altitude of 0.9-1.4 km, then the separation and stabilization of the bomblets, which are equipped with Zont 9E156 radio sensors is conducted. The explosion is carried out at an altitude of 6-10 meters above the target.

In addition, there are special warheads that provide remote mining of terrain:

• сluster warheads remote anti-personnel and anti-wheel mining with PFM-1 mines, as well as self-adjusting POM-2 “Otek” mines;
• remote anti-tank mining with PTM-3 magnetic anti-tank mines.

The 9М723 missile can also be equipped with a special 50 kt nuclear warhead.

9М728 is a cruise missile with an official range of up to 500 kilometers and a warhead mass of up to 480 kilograms. It is worth noting that, according to the designers, it is a hybrid of cruise and air-launched ballistic missiles.

That is, in the initial stages of flight, the missile has a ballistic trajectory to increase its range. The missile flies at an average altitude of 6 km, it decreases to 7 meters when entering the target. It automatically adjusts the entire flight time and automatically skirts the terrain.

According to some reports, it is a deep modernization of the Soviet missile system S-10 Granat, according to others, – a component of the Kalibr family of missiles.

Export variant and its operators

It is known that the standard Iskander is forbidden to export by Russian law, but a simplified version of Iskander-E was developed especially for exports.

The simplified complex received a flight range of up to 280 kilometers, and foreign buyers were not offered cluster combat units with self-targeting elements.

The operators of the export variant today are:

• Algeria – 12 units;
• Armenia – from 4 to 8 units;
• Belarus – an indefinite number of Iskander-M units.

Nuclear threat from the Belarusian 9K720 Iskander

In the winter of 2023, the Belarusian military received Russian Iskander systems, which can be carriers of nuclear warheads.

The Belarusian Ministry of Defense stated that their military has undergone a full cycle of theoretical and practical training on the use of Iskander-M systems with nuclear combat units.

Belarusians received practical skills during the preparation of the missile system for use and were trained in the deployment and conduct of training and combat launches.

In addition, it is known that Belarus has already received nuclear combat parts from Russia for the Iskander SRBM.

Combat use in the world

The first combat use of the Iskander SRBM took place during the 2008 war in Georgia, namely in the cities of Poti, Gori, and the Baku-Supsa pipeline. The Russians do not confirm this information.

In 2017, the Russian Minister of Defense said that SRBM was used in Syria.

Later, in 2020, information appeared about the use of SRBM by Armenian troops during the Karabakh war; missile fragments were exhibited in the Military Trophy Park in Baku.

Combat use in Ukraine

Iskander SRBM has become one of the tools of missile terrorism by Russians against the civilian population of Ukraine, but it is worth noting that the system is used quite rarely.

According to some reports, during 2022, the Russians launched about 240 missile strikes, after which the number of launches fell significantly, which may be due to the exhaustion of the reserves of these missiles.

Another possible problem for the Russians is that they are able to fire up to six 9М723 missiles per month, which may not be enough for them to constantly launch massive missile strikes.

The Russians can use the system alone or accumulate missiles to defeat infrastructure facilities or Ukrainian troops in a critical period of time.

Conclusion

The missiles of the Iskander system, undoubtedly, are very dangerous weapons that can be used both against civilian and military infrastructure. A large range of combat parts allows it to perform a variety of tasks, affecting a large number of different targets.

The range of missiles makes it possible to use them on objects in the deep rear without fear of hitting launchers or elements of the complex, and the design and flight features of missiles make them a target difficult for detection and destruction by air defense.