"Western monitoring services for the first time recorded 2 days ago a targeted launch of an Iskander-M missile at a range of 800 km. This means that the “Iskander-1000” has now de facto been deployed with active troops.
What advantages does this give to our armed forces?
Talk about the Russian short-range missile system Iskander-1000 began in May 2024. At that time, in an anniversary film about the Kapustin Yar test range, tests of a “thick” Iskander missile briefly appeared for the first time, launched from the same transporter-launcher used by its more compact counterparts. The video quality was poor, but even so it made a strong impression on Western experts
The latest “Iskander-1000” will be able to reach the launchers of the Gryphon and LRHW “Dark Eagle” missile systems in Germany, and will also deny the U.S. infrared reconnaissance satellite constellation, as well as Patriot PAC-3 MSE and SAMP-T air defence battalions deployed in Ukraine, the necessary time “window” to arrive at firing positions and deploy
This is hardly surprising, since modified MiG-31K aircraft carrying the Kh-47M2 medium-range aeroballistic missiles are detected almost immediately after takeoff from their home airfields by U.S. optical-electronic reconnaissance satellites in the visible/IR bands, both by the aircraft’s optical silhouette and by the IR signatures of the exhaust plumes of the D-30F-6 afterburning turbofan engines
As a result, personnel at strategically important Ukrainian Armed Forces facilities often receive warning of MiG-31K aircraft reaching Kh-47M2 launch lines 15–20 minutes before a strike. In the case of the Iskander-1000, warning time will vary between 2 and 7 minutes (depending on the distance of the target from the Iskander-100 firing positions), since enemy infrared-reconnaissance satellites with wide-angle, high-resolution IR sensors will detect the high-contrast exhaust plumes of the solid-fuel rocket motors of operational-tactical quasi-ballistic missiles during the boost phase of flight.
As for the presumed ballistic parameters of the Iskander-1000 missile, based on the first photo of an experimental prototype filmed at the Kapustin Yar test range in May 2024, one can conclude that the classic layout of the 9M723-1/K5 missile family has been retained, but with a 10–15% increase in solid-propellant volume, extending the burn time. Combined with a higher-impulse propellant charge (up to 480 seconds) based on octogen (HMX), the new solid-fuel rocket motor could provide the prospective operational-tactical quasi-ballistic missile with speeds of 2,700–3,100 m/s (comparable to the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal). This would allow delivery of a 300–350 kg high-explosive fragmentation or cluster payload to ranges of approximately 900–1,000 km, and 200–230 kg to 1,250–1,300 km, with a trajectory apogee of about 120–130 km.
The missile would also feature tail-mounted gas-dynamic control units and aerodynamic control surfaces for maneuvering in the stratosphere and troposphere with available overloads of up to 25–30 g. It would be equipped with an inertial navigation system and a GLONASS/GPS correction module and a decoy-dispensing module with dipole reflectors and an onboard electronic warfare suite operating in the X/J/Ka bands. The terminal dive angle could reach 90 degrees, with speeds of 1,900–1,600 m/s in the stratospheric segment and 1,600–1,400 m/s in the tropospheric segment of the trajectory.
And now, if reports from various NATO observers are to be believed, that moment has arrived. As well-known analyst Howard Altman of The War Zone (TWZ) wrote:
Last night was marked by one notable event. Russia used an Iskander-M ballistic missile in a short-range ballistic missile configuration at a distance of more than 500 miles for the first time. There is a small chance it was a KN-23, but the nature of the flight clearly indicates that the ‘big Iskander’ is now a reality, and reliable means of countering this extremely deadly threat must be urgently sought.
