New Iskander-M missile brigade enters service in Russian Eastern Military District 20411151

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Defence & Security News - Russia
 
 
New Iskander-M missile brigade enters service in Russian Eastern Military District
A missile unit in Russia’s Southern Military District located in the East Siberian Republic of Buryatia received Iskander-M (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) tactical missile systems, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015.
     
New Iskander M missile brigade enters service in Russian Western Military District 640 001Iskander-M mobile short-range ballistic missile system
     
In order to master the sophisticated weaponry, the unit's military personnel "passed theoretical and practical training courses" and "performed combat and electronic launches of cruise and ballistic missiles" in Russia's southern Astrakhan Region, the statement reads.

The Iskander is characterized by its high mobility and maneuverability, as it takes just 20 minutes to put the system in operational readiness.

The 9K720 Iskander-M entered into service in 2006 to replace the OTR-23 Oka missile system, retired following the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.

This is already the sixth Iskander-M brigade delivered under the 4 August 2011 defense contract between Russian MOD and KBM for the delivery of ten Iskander-M brigades, and the second delivered in 2015. With the Iskander-M brigade delivered in 2010-2011, six of Ground Forces missile brigades are equipped with these weapons.

In 2014 KBM delivered two Iskander-M brigade sets, for the 112th Guards Separate Missile Brigade of the Western Military District based in Shuye (Ivanovo Region), and the 92nd Separate Missile Brigade of the Central Military District based in Totskoye-2 (Orenburg Region). In 2013 KBM delivered two brigade sets for the 107th Separate Missile Brigade of the Eastern Military District (Birobidjan) and the 1st Guards Separate Missile Brigade of the Southern Military District (Krasnodar). KBM Kolomna delivered the fifth complete operational-tactical 9K720 Iskander-M missile brigade in July 2015 to the 103rd Red Banner, Order of Kutuzov and Khmelnitskiy, Separate Missile Brigade of the 36th Combined Arms Army of the Eastern Military District, based in Ulan-Ude.