Iskander-M Ballistic Missile System Gains Multiple Recent Successes in Ukraine: State Tech Firm Praises Performance

The Russian Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile has been credited with multiple significant recent successes in the Ukrainian theatre, with Russian state defence conglomerate Rostec praising the system when elaborating to state media on its performance. “The adversary cannot repel Iskander strikes. The ballistic missile flies along a complicated and unpredictable trajectory at an enormous speed. The overload during manoeuvring considerably exceeds the overload that most NATO-made anti-aircraft missiles can endure. Therefore, the Ukrainian army has no capabilities to shoot down Iskanders. The adversary can only observe the flight of these missiles and realise the inevitable destruction of its sites,” the firm stated.

TheIskander-M first entered service in 2006, and was developed as an enhanced derivative of the Soviet OTR-23 Oka ballistic missile system, and specifically the enhanced Oka-U variant. The system was first was combat tested two years later in the Russo-Georgian War, and subsequently against Western-backed Islamist insurgent groups when providing counterinsurgency support to the Syrian government in the 2010s. It has been exported to Algeria, Belarus and Armenia, with technology transfers reported to have assisted in the development of the similar North Korean KN-23 and South Korean Hyunmoo 2 systems. An air launched variant of the Iskander’s 9K720 ballistic missile also entered service in 2018 as part of the Kinzhal system, and can be carried by MiG-31K/I and Su-34 strike fighters and by Tu-22M3 bombers.

Expressions of confidence in the Iskander-M’s capabilities follow multiple major successes combat testing the missile under high intensity combat conditions, including against advanced variants of the American MIM-104 Patriot air defence system, which is the most capable of its kind fielded by NATO members. Less than a week before the statement from Rostec, footage from the Dnepropetrovsk region showed the destruction of multiple key components a Patriot missile system in an Iskander-M strike, with the AN/MPQ-65 multifunctional radar station, the combat control cabin, and missile launch vehicles, all destroyed.

The Iskander system was first confirmed to have successfully destroyed a Patriot system on February 23, 2024, with a subsequent strike destroying another Patriot system near the Sergeevka locality on March 10 that year, which was assessed to have left ground forces in the region exposed. Subsequently in the second week of July, 2024, new footage confirmed the destruction of two batteries in the Odessa region, while in August 11 three more missile batteries and an AN/MPQ-65 radar were reported to have been destroyed in Iskander-M strikes. The system has gained multiple further successes in neutralising Ukrainian air defence sites, with its 9K720 missiles’ ability to evade targeting also allowing them to neutralise a wide range of other high value targets with greater reliability even if such targets are well defended.