9K720 Iskander
Russian short-range ballistic missile / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 9K720 Iskander (Russian: «Искандер»; NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) is a mobile short-range ballistic missile system produced and deployed by the Russian military. They travel at a terminal hypersonic speed of 2100–2600 m/s (Mach 6–7) and can reach an altitude of 50 km as they range up to 500 km. The missile systems (Искандер-М) were intended to replace by 2020 the supposedly-obsolete OTR-21 Tochka systems in the Russian military.
9K720 Iskander SS-26 Stone | |
---|---|
Type | Short-range ballistic missile |
Place of origin | Russia |
Service history | |
In service | 2006–present[1] |
Used by | Russian Ground Forces Armenian Armed Forces Algerian People's National Army Armed Forces of Belarus |
Wars | Russo-Georgian War Syrian Civil War[2] 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine |
Production history | |
Designed | From 1988 |
Manufacturer | Votkinsk Plant State Production Association (Votkinsk) – missiles Production Association Barricades (Volgograd) – ground equipment KBM (Kolomna) – developer of the system |
Unit cost | $3 million [3] |
Specifications | |
Mass | 3,800 kg (8,400 lb)[4] |
Length | 7.3 m (24 ft) |
Diameter | 0.92 m (3 ft 0 in) |
Warhead | 480–700 kg (1,060–1,540 lb) thermonuclear weapon, high-explosive fragmentation, submunition, penetration, fuel–air explosive, EMP[5][6] |
Engine | Single-stage solid propellant |
Operational range | 400–500 km (250–310 mi)[7][8] for Iskander-M |
Maximum speed | 2,000 m/s (Mach 5.9) burn-out velocity (hypersonic)[9] |
Guidance system | Inertial guidance, optical DSMAC (Iskander-M), TERCOM (Iskander-K), use of GPS / GLONASS in addition to the inertial guidance system[10] Inertial, use of GPS / GLONASS and optical DSMAC terminal homing |
Accuracy | 1–30 m (9K720) 5–7 m (Iskander-M) |
Launch platform | Mobile TEL |
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.[1][11][12] In September 2017, the KB Mashinostroyeniya (KBM) general designer Valery M. Kashin said that there were at least seven types of missiles (and "perhaps more") for Iskander, including one cruise missile.[13]