MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The Iskander tactical missile system will be commissioned by the Russian Armed Forces soon, Land Forces Commander and Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Kormiltsev said on Tuesday.
"The Iskander system has passed state tests, and their results will soon be reported to the Russian defense minister. We expect the Iskander system to be commissioned already in the near future," Kormiltsev told a news conference in Moscow.
A Land Forces battalion may receive Iskanders already this year, he said.
The deputy defense minister praised results of the system's tests and its potential.
The Iskander surface-to-surface 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 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 are facing almost overwhelming difficulties.
Experts of the Machine-Building Design Bureau assure that the system's specifications are superior to those of foreign analogues.