KUBINKA, Moscow Region. Sept 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian defense industry will launch mass production of the Iskander missile system in 2005, Army General Alexei Moskovsky, chief of the Armed Forces armament directorate and deputy defense minister, said on Tuesday.
"State tests of the Iskander have been completed. We are hoping to produce necessary documents in the industry by the end of the year and planning to launch mass production of the system in 2005," Moskovsky told reporters.
The launch of the Iskander's mass production will provide workload for the Russian defense industry and provide a new armament system for the Russian army, he said.
The Iskander-E, designed by the Machine-Building Design Bureau in Kolomna, has a range of 50 to 280km, a launch weight of 3,800kg, and a payload of 480kg.
The system boasts high mobility, short deployment time, a concealment-under-jamming capability, and high destructive effect of the conventional warhead. It is intended to hit such important areas and sites as airfields, missile launchers, long-range artillery, air defenses, and C2 facilities.
The system includes a wheeled 4WD self-propelled launcher with two solid-propellant missiles inside the hull, a loading vehicle with another two missiles, a C2 vehicle, a maintenance vehicle, and a support vehicle, all in a single data exchange network. The missile has an independent inertial guidance system with an optical homing head. The range of optional conventional types of payload includes penetrating, cassette, and high- explosive heads.
The launcher weighs 40 tonnes, and the crew is three men.