| a |
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| Wednesday,
August 3, 2011, 11:45 AM |
|
|
| |
| Russia
planning to buy up to 120 Iskander-M SS-26 Stone tactical ballistic missile
systems. |
The
Russian Defense Ministry is planning to buy up to 120 Iskander-M
tactical missile systems, Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Dmitry Bulgakov
said.
|
|
|
|
"We purchased six [Iskander]
systems in 2010, and plan to acquire up to 120 more," Bulgakov
told a news conference in Moscow on Monday.
The Iskander-M
system (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) is a mobile theater
missile system equipped with two solid-propellant single-stage 9M723K1
guided missiles with "quasi-ballistic" capability.
The missiles have
a range of 400 km (250 miles) and can reportedly carry conventional
and nuclear warheads.
According to the
Moscow Centre for Strategy and Technology Analysis, the Iskander-M system
was combat-tested in the brief war with Georgia in August 2008, and
it proved highly effective in destroying military targets and infrastructure.
Russia threatened
to deploy Iskander-M
tactical missiles in its Kaliningrad Region, which borders NATO members
Poland and Lithuania, if the alliance placed elements of its proposed
"missile shield" close to Russian borders.
|
| |
|
