KOLOMNA, Moscow Region. August 21 (Interfax-AVN) - State tests of the Iskander-E tactical missile system are progressing successfully and may be completed in late 2002 or early 2003, Valery Kashin, first deputy constructor general of the local Machine-Building Design Bureau (KBM), said on Wednesday.
"This will happen in case the Defense Ministry provides sufficient funds for the tests. Preparations for the system's mass production are conducted simultaneously," Kashin told Interfax- Military News Agency.
Thanks to regular financing in the first half of 2002, KBM managed to go through a substantial share of the test launch program. "However the state has not yet paid its arrears for 1997 and 1998 that amount to dozens of millions of rubles," Kashin noted.
The state tests are in progress at the Kapustin Yar proving range in the southern Russian region of Astrakhan.
The Defense Ministry has instructed KBM to complete the state tests of Iskander-E as soon as possible, as the system is to be commissioned by the Russian Armed Forces in 2004, the deputy constructor general said.
According to him, it will not take Russia long to master serial production of the system, as mass-production plants have already mastered the system's components needed for state tests and are ready to launch regular production within a short period of time. The Votkinsk machine-building plant will be the main producer of the asset.
The Iskander-E air-to-air missile system is intended for secret preparation and delivery of efficient missile strikes on small and area-type targets, such as the enemy's fire assets, air defense and anti-missile installations, aircraft on airfields, etc. The missile fired by Iskander-E has a range of 50 to 280km, launch weight of 3,800kg and payload of 480kg. Its trajectory is not ballistic and variable. The missile is controlled during the entire flight, by gas-dynamic control surfaces on the initial stage and by aerodynamic control surfaces after it gains speed.
The system's missile is made on the stealth technology and has a small dispersion surface. The major part of its trajectory has an altitude of 50km that reduces the chances of hitting it from above or from below. Developers of systems intended to combat Iskander-E are facing almost overwhelming difficulties.
Iskander-E is a development of the Oka system that was also designed by KBM. All Okas were destroyed in 1989 in compliance with the Russian-U.S. INF Missile treaty. According to some sources, 360 missiles and 160 self-propelled launchers were scrapped back then.
Developers of Iskander-E met all requirements of international accords on intermediate and short-range missiles and non- proliferation of nuclear technologies that limit Russia's rights to export missiles with a range of over 300km and payload of over 500kg, Kashin said.
KBM exports assure that the new asset's technical specifications are superior to that of its U.S. analogue.