9K720

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Iskander

Iskander based on an MZKT-7930
Iskander based on an MZKT-7930

General Information
Type Surface-to-surface missile
Local name 9K720 Iskander, 9K723 Iskander-M, tender
NATO designation SS-26 Stone
Country of origin Soviet Union 1955Soviet Union Soviet Union / RussiaRussiaRussia 
Manufacturer KBM design office , Kolomna
development 1987
Commissioning 2006
Working time in service
Technical specifications
length 7.28 m
diameter 914 mm
Combat weight Iskander: 4,615 kg
Iskander-E: 3,800 kg
span 1,500 mm
drive Solid - rocket engine
speed 2,100 m / s ( Mach 6.3)
Range Iskander: 415 km
Iskander-E: 280 km
Furnishing
steering Inertial navigation system
Warhead Iskander: 800 kg
Iskander-E: 480 kg
Detonator Programmable detonator
Weapon platforms MZKT-7930 - truck
Lists on the subject

The Iskander is a tactical ballistic surface-to-surface missile made in Russia and belongs to the short-range missile (SRBM) class. The GRAU index for the entire system is 9K720 and 9K723 . The NATO code name is SS-26 Stone . The Iskander-K version is equipped with cruise missiles .

development

In the early 1980s, various studies were carried out in the Soviet Union on a successor system to the R-17 Elbrus and OTR-23 Oka short-range missiles . A tactical missile system with high speed and a range of at least 400 km was required. The new system should also be usable in future networked warfare. In 1987 the KBM design office was awarded the development contract. The basis of the new rocket was the Sfera research rocket , which was based on the OTR-23. The developers also used various components of the 9K79 Totschka .

The development of the Iskander system in its current form was carried out on the initiative of the chief designer Sergey Nepobedimy. In 1988, by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, funding for a draft of the new missile system was issued. The missile tests were conducted between 1991 and 1997 at the Kapustin Yar test site. On October 25, 1995, the military newspaper "Krasnaya Zvezda" announced the official completion of the missile tests. During the first tests with the prototypes it was decided to change the concept towards a modular multi-purpose missile system for the army, which was approved in 1993. The following work was continued within the KBM design office, under the direction of Oleg Mamaligi, another chief designer in the development department. Starting in 1995, litter and autonomous range tests were carried out. Various other areas of testing the Iskander-M system with the 9M723 ballistic missile were only completed in August 2004 and officially introduced into service with the Russian Army in 2006.

The Novator design office (based in Yekaterinburg), headed by Pavel Kemnev, was commissioned to develop a cruise missile for the Iskander-M missile system. The version of the missile system under the designation Iskander-K with two cruise missiles of the type 9M728 was presented in 2007 and put into service in 2011.

The cruise missile 9M729, which is another missile version of the Iskander-K system, should be in service from at least 2017.

Versions

  • 9K720 Iskander: 1st series version.
    • with 9M720 missiles with a range of 415 km and a payload of 800 kg.
  • 9K723 Iskander-M: 2nd series version.
    • with 9M723 missiles with a range of 480 km.
    • with 9M723TL missiles with final phase guidance system (project).
  • Iskander-E: export version
    • with 9M723E missiles with a reduced range of 280 km and the 482 kg warheads of the 9M79 missile.
  • Iskander-K:
    • with two launch containers for cruise missiles 9M728 (R-500) with a range of 490 km. NATO code name : SS-C-7 Southpaw .
    • with four launch containers for cruise missiles 9M729 . According to Russian sources, this cruise missile has a maximum range of 480 km. NATO code name: SS-C-8 Screwdriver .

technology

Transport and loading vehicle 9T250 with two 9M720 rockets and folded crane boom
9M728 cruise missile shortly after takeoff

The SS-26 represents the current technical status of Russian surface-to-surface missiles and thus achieves a significantly higher target accuracy than its predecessor.

vehicle

The system is installed on the all-terrain truck MZKT-7930 . This launch vehicle has the type designation 9P78 or 9P78E . The system is highly mobile and can be installed quickly. A satellite navigation antenna set is installed on the roof of the vehicle . The navigation system works with a receiver for the satellite navigation systems GLONASS and GPS . A minimum reaction time from full speed to the rocket launch of around 16 minutes is achieved. Each vehicle is armed with two 9M723 missiles that can be launched 40 seconds apart. Other vehicles belong to the Iskander complex. These include a 9T250 transport and loading vehicle , which is also based on the MZKT-7930 and transports two rockets and is equipped with a loading crane. The four other vehicles in the complex are based on KamAZ-4310 1 trucks . There is a 9S552 command vehicle , a maintenance vehicle for testing the missile, a 9S920 vehicle for processing coordinates and information, and a supply vehicle for the operating crew.

rocket

There is not a lot of reliable data on the Iskander missile and some of it is misleading. The Iskander rocket is propelled by a cartridge-type composite solid propellant . The burning speed is around 2100 m / s. It is controlled by an inertial navigation platform , which, like the 9K79 rocket, is active throughout the flight. Course corrections are made using four thrusters and four trapezoidal control surfaces . The range control is not done through thrust termination, but by adjusting the flight path. Therefore the trajectory of the missile can resemble that of a semi-ballistic curve in addition to the usual trajectory parabola . The minimum operational distance is 50 km and the maximum officially over 400 km (NATO, however, assumes a considerably greater range without being able to justify it). According to Russian data, the Iskander missile achieves a hit accuracy ( CEP ) of 30 to 100 m.

According to the manufacturer, the Iskander rocket should also with a GLONASS - satellite navigation system and an optoelectronic 9E436 -Endphasen steering system for a tercom can be fitted. This contains a digital infrared camera which automatically steers the rocket on its final approach to a point that was previously marked on a digital satellite map. With this additional system, a hit accuracy (CEP) of around 10 m should be achieved. It is not known whether the satellite navigation system and the final phase guidance system have been fully developed.

The Iskander missile has a number of systems for overcoming enemy defenses. In the initial phase, the missile flies in an extremely flat semi-ballistic trajectory . At the maximum operational range of the Iskander-E (around 280 kilometers), the apogee is only 50 km. Such a flat trajectory makes target acquisition by search radars difficult . During the target approach, the missile performs abrupt evasive maneuvers at random with a load of 25 to 30 g . Similarly, the target approach decoys ejected. There is also a jammer weighing around 30 kilograms on board, which is supposed to interfere with the fire control radar of missile defense systems . In addition, the rocket surface should be provided with a radar-absorbing protective layer.

The 9M723 missiles can be equipped with different warheads, whereby the warhead with cluster munitions represents the standard warhead:

  • 9N722K Warhead for 9N722F - Cluster munitions (submunitions) with combined fragmentation and armor penetration .
  • AA-86 nuclear warhead with a variable explosive power from 5 to 50  kT .
  • AA-92 nuclear warhead with a variable explosive power from 100 to 200 kT.

There is also speculation about various other warheads such as a fragmentation warhead, a penetration warhead against bunkered systems, anti-tank mines for remote mining, an aerosol bomb , self-targeting (intelligent) SPBE-D submunition for fighting tanks (Iskander: 72 pieces, Iskander-E: 54 pieces) and an Atropos- type EMP non-nuclear warhead .

commitment

Remnants of an SS-26 in an apartment in Gori , August 25, 2008

Caucasus War

According to the Georgian Interior Ministry, at least three Iskander missiles are said to have been launched against targets in Poti and the demilitarized city ​​of Gori in Georgia during the 2008 Caucasus conflict . Another Iskander missile is said to have struck near the Supsa pipeline . After the Russian General Staff first denied the use of 9K79 Tochka missiles, it also denied the use of Iskander missiles in this conflict. The Russian General Staff later referred to the assignment problems with 9K79 Tochka missiles, which had been deployed at the same time, in relation to the use of Iskander missiles. This statement contradicts the Georgian Ministry of Interior, media reports, photos in social media and reports in specialist literature . According to these, the rocket debris on which u. A. The GRAU index was visible, can be assigned to the Iskander missile without a doubt. Shortly after the Caucasus conflict , the Russian foreign broadcaster Voice of Russia and the Russian think tank Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies reported on the use of Iskander missiles in the conflict. Western observers see no tactical value in these missions . According to their observations, these missions were probably used for weapon tests and weapons demonstrations.

civil war in Syria

As part of Russia's involvement in the civil war in Syria , at least two Iskander systems were stationed at the Hmeimim air base in Latakia . Rocket launches are not yet known.

Political argument

NATO missile defense shield

Because of the NATO anti -missile shield planned in Poland and Romania, Russia announced that it would deploy missiles in Kaliningrad Oblast . In his first State of the Union address in early November 2008, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that it was a short-range Iskander missile that could reach the neighboring NATO member states of Lithuania and Poland. Due to their high accuracy, according to Russian information, the systems would in principle be able to disable the planned missile defense positions in Poland with conventional warheads.

Medvedev later offered the USA in an interview not to be stationed in Kaliningrad if the USA in turn refrained from installing the missile defense system. At the end of January 2009, Russia announced that it would stop deploying the weapon. After President Barack Obama announced in September 2009 that the United States would not set up a defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, the Russian stationing plans in Kaliningrad were declared abandoned. However, after the failure of negotiations with the United States on the European missile shield, Russia resumed its original plans. In December 2013, the stationing of Iskander-M systems in Kaliningrad was completed.

INF contract

According to presumptions from the NATO countries, among others, the Iskander-K version with the 9M729 cruise missile violates the INF Treaty . Among other things, this prohibits land-based cruise missiles with a range of more than 500 km. Intelligence services of western states assume that the 9M729 cruise missile comes from the sea-based 3M14 cruise missile with a range of 2600 km. At a press conference, Lieutenant General of Missile Forces Mikhail Matveevsky discussed the development of the 9M729 missile, which is a modernized 9M728 missile for the Iskander-M missile system. The difference is sometimes in the increased performance of the warhead, which is associated with a larger mass and dimensions. Furthermore, the installation of an improved flight control system led to a further extension of the rocket, which adds up to a total of 53 cm. Due to the constant engine, the fuel tank, and the increased mass of the warhead, the maximum flight range was reduced by 10 kilometers and is finally 480 km. After the USA and the NATO Secretary General classified the Russian statements as untrustworthy, the USA officially declared its withdrawal from the INF disarmament treaty on February 1, 2019.

User states

Current users

  • AlgeriaAlgeria Algeria - From January 2018 1 battery of the "Iskander-E" system with 4 starting vehicles is in service.
  • ArmeniaArmenia Armenia - From January 2018 1 battery of the "Iskander-E" system with 4 starting vehicles is in service.
  • RussiaRussia Russia
    Explanation: A Russian brigade of the "Iskander-M" system consists of a total of 51 different vehicles, 12 of which are launch vehicles.
    As of the end of December 2018, the Russian armed forces have twelve SS-26 brigades with a total of 144 launch vehicles in service.

See also

literature

  • Russia's Arms Catalog 2005.
  • Land-based Soviet / Russian ballistic guided missiles. DTIG - Defense Threat Informations Group, July 2005.
  • Michal Fiszer, Jerzy Gruszczynski: Bolt From the Blue - Russian land-based precision-strike missiles. In: Journal of Electronic Defense. Vol. 26, No. 3, 2003, pp. 42-50.
  • Schmucker Robert & Schiller Markus: Missile Threat 2.0: Technical and Political Basics . Mittler Verlag, 2015, ISBN 3-8132-0956-3 .

Web links

Commons : Iskander  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Schmucker Robert & Schiller Markus: Missile Threat 2.0: Technical and Political Basics . 2015. p. 353.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Schmucker Robert & Schiller Markus: Missile Threat 2.0: Technical and Political Basics . 2015. p. 354.
  3. ↑ Корнев, Дмитрий (DIMMI): Комплекс 9К720 Искандер - SS-26 STONE. In: MilitaryRussia. militaryrussia.ru, accessed August 17, 2019 (Russian).
  4. ↑ Комплекс 9К720 Искандер - SS-26 STONE - Структура комплекса и хронология. In: military.tomsk.ru. Military Russia, accessed January 30, 2019 (Russian).
  5. ↑ SSC-8 (Novator 9M729). In: Center for Strategic and International Studies - CSIS Missile Defense Project. missilethreat.csis.org, January 23, 2019, accessed August 17, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b c Iskander-E tactical ballistic missile system. In: kbm.ru. Konstruktorskoye byuro mashynostroyeniya (KBM), accessed on January 5, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b Dmitry Fediushko: Russian MoD details 9M729 GLCM. In: Janes.com. IHS Jane's 360, January 23, 2019, accessed January 24, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Tēvijas coffin: Operacionāli taktisko raķešu komplekss 9K720 "Iskander-M"
  9. ↑ a b Jeffrey Lewis: Russian Cruise Missiles Revisited. In: armscontrolwonk.com. October 27, 2015, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Mikhail Barabanov: Iskander the Great. In: Moscow Defense Brief , No. 14, Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Moscow 2008, pp. 2-5.
  12. ↑ Комплекс 9К720 Искандер - SS-26 STONE. In: military.tomsk.ru. Military Russia, accessed January 5, 2019 (in Russian).
  13. ↑ Оперативно-тактический ракетный комплекс 9К720 'Искандер'. In: rbase.new-factoria.ru. Ракетная техника, accessed January 5, 2019 (Russian).
  14. ↑ Iskander SS-21 ( Memento from December 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on www.defense-update.com
  15. ↑ Iskander - mobilní raketový systém odstrašování v místních konfliktech. on www.blisty.cz
  16. ↑ Dr. Igor Sutyagin: Russian Countermeasures against New Missile Technologies. In: youtube.com. INSS - The Institute for National Security Studies, January 13, 2013, accessed August 21, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Short-range missile of the type SS-26 Iskander fired ( memento from February 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) on www.br-online.de
  18. ^ A b Michael Kofman: Russian Performance in the Russo-Georgian War Revisited. In: warontherocks.com. War on the Rocks - National security For insiders. By insiders., September 4, 2019, accessed on September 24, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Российские войска не применяли "Искандер" в зоне конфликта - Генштаб. In: МИА «Россия сегодня». ria.ru, August 16, 2008, accessed August 17, 2019 (Russian).
  20. ↑ Двали, Георгий: Россия и Грузия дошли до «Точки». In: «Коммерсантъ». Kommersant.ru, January 26, 2011, accessed August 17, 2019 (in Russian).
  21. ↑ Georgia accuses Russia of war crimes during 2008 conflict. In: theguardian.com. The Guardian, accessed September 24, 2019 .
  22. ↑ a b Jeffrey Lewis: Did Russia Fire SS-26s at Georgia? In: armscontrolwonk.com. August 17, 2008, accessed September 24, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Корнев, Дмитрий (DIMMI): Комплекс 9К720 Искандер - SS-26 STONE. In: MilitaryRussia. militaryrussia.ru, accessed August 17, 2019 (Russian).
  24. ↑ Stefan Forrs: The russian operational-tactical Iskander missile system. National Defense University, Department of Strategic and Defense Studies, Finland 2012, p. 17.
  25. ↑ Patrick Truffer: A Long Way: The Russian Military Reform - Part 1. In: officiere.ch. Officers.ch: Security Policy - Armed Forces - Media, January 18, 2019, accessed on September 24, 2019 .
  26. ^ New Evidence of Russian Iskander M Missile Deployment in Syria
  27. ↑ Iskander as the optimal answer to US missile shield in Europe. on de.rian.ru
  28. ↑ David Nauer: Rocket Poker between Moscow and Washington. Tages-Anzeiger , November 13, 2008, accessed March 11, 2018 .
  29. ^ Moritz Gathmann: Obama's new policy course: Russians start charm offensive. Spiegel Online , January 28, 2009, accessed March 11, 2018 .
  30. ↑ Defense system in Eastern Europe: Obama puts plans for missile shield on hold. Spiegel Online , September 17, 2009, accessed March 11, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Kaliningrad: Russia refrains from deploying missiles. Spiegel Online , September 29, 2009, accessed March 11, 2018 .
  32. ↑ Eastern Europe: Russian missiles in Kaliningrad anger Poland and Lithuania. Spiegel Online , December 16, 2013, accessed March 11, 2018 .
  33. ↑ Russia is stationing Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad . In: Der Tagesspiegel Online . May 4, 2018, ISSN  1865-2263 ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed May 6, 2018]).
  34. ↑ Суркова, Людмила / Коваленко, Никита / Резчиков, Андрей: Кому и зачем Россия показывала свою равета. In: ВЗГЛЯД. vz.ru, January 23, 2019, accessed on August 17, 2019 (Russian).
  35. ↑ Russia's mysterious guided missile , NZZ, March 9, 2017
  36. ^ A b The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS): The Military Balance 2018 . 1st edition. Routledge, London 2018, ISBN 978-1-85743-955-7 (English, January 2018).
  37. ↑ Российская армия получит второй за год комплект ракетных комплексов «Искандер-М». In: ОАО «ТРК ВС РФ« ЗВЕЗДА ». tvzvezda.ru, November 18, 2014, accessed August 17, 2019 (Russian).
  38. ↑ На Дальнем Востоке развернули ракетную бригаду с «Искандерами». In: ООО «Лента.Ру». lenta.ru, May 9, 2017, accessed on August 17, 2019 (Russian, including 10 Iskander-M regiments are on duty).
  39. ↑ Военные в Забайкалье получили новые ракетные комплексы "Искандер-М". In: Mil.Press Военное. военное.рф, October 16, 2017, accessed August 17, 2019 (Russian).
  40. ↑ До конца 2018 года курских военных вооружат комплексами "Искандер-М". In: Mil.Press Военное. военное.рф, July 6, 2018, accessed August 17, 2019 (Russian).