Russia’s New ‘Iskander-1000’ Ballistic Missile Boasts Doubled Range and Greater Accuracy

<p >Multiple sources have reported that Russia is close to beginning serial production of a new derivative of the<a href=" target="_blank"> Iskander-M ballistic missile system</a>, the official designation of which has not been confirmed. The new missile is expected to double the 500 kilometre range of the original system both by using a new more efficient engine, and by increasing fuel carriage by an estimate 15 percent. The resulting 1000km projected range has led the system to be colloquially dubbed the Iskander-1000. The first significant indications that the new missile class may be under development emerged in May 2024 in a video commemorating the 78th anniversary of the Kapustin Yar missile test site. The missiles have been speculated by Russian sources to be intended for deployment in Russia’s westernmost territory of Kaliningrad which would place it in range of targets across much of Central and Western Europe as well as the Baltic Sea. The Iskander-M is relied on heavily by Russian forces to provide an asymmetric counter to NATO’s much larger conventional forces, with its combination of high mobility, high precision, a diversity of warhead types, and a complex trajectory that is difficult to intercept, making it a highly valued asset. Its 9K720 ballistic missiles were restricted to a 500km range due to the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which the United States withdrew from under the first Donald Trump administration. The longer range new Iskander system is expected to benefit from the same features as the original. </p><p ><img src=" ></p><p >Russia began to introduce longer ranged tactical missiles into service from late 2023, with the <a href=" target="_blank">deployment of North Korea KN-23B</a> missile systems in the country confirmed in January 2024. The Korean missile class benefits from many of the same mobility and flight performance characteristics as the Iskander-M, but boasts a <a href=" target="_blank">longer 900km</a> range and carries a warhead several times as large. There has been speculation that the KN-23B was never exported to Russia, and that the missile systems were instead deployed by Korean People’s Army units that <a href=" target="_blank">deployed to support </a>the Russian war effort in Ukraine. </p><p >Russia subsequently in November 2024 unveiled its first indigenous longer ranged tactical ballistic missile class, the Oreshnik, although this much larger missile was in an entirely different category with a long 4000 kilometre range, carriage of multiple warheads, and a flight profile more comparable to those of intercontinental range ballistic missiles. The introduction of a new extended range variant of the Iskander-M will thus fill an important place in the Russian arsenal between the original Iskander-M and the Oreshnik, and could in the longer term reduce Russia’s reliance on the Korean KN-23B. The decision to develop the new Iskander variant is speculated to have been as a result of the Russian Armed Forces’ positive assessments of the North Korean system’s capabilities. The course of development is considered comparable to that of the KN-23B, which was similarly conceptualised as an <a href=" target="_blank">enlarged and extended ranged</a> variant of the baseline KN-23 which had a comparable range and size to the original Iskander-M.</p><p ><img src=" aria-hidden="true" title="Ukrainian Patriot System Milliseconds Before Iskander Strike "></p><p >Iskander-M systems have repeatedly been used to strike high profile targets in the Russian-Ukrainian War. They have frequently been <a href=" >used</a> in <a href=" >air defence suppression operations</a> against Ukrainian Patriot air defence systems, among other surface to air missile assets, allowing them to serve as force multipliers that significantly <a href=" >increase the vulnerability</a> of nearby Ukrainian forces. In July 2024 the missile system achieved multiple <a href=" target="_blank">particularly notable successes</a> in the Ukrainian theatre, and on July 25 was <a href=" >used to attack</a> the positions of Western foreign fighters and the Ukrainian Army 151st Mechanised Brigade in Kharkiv, killing an estimated 100 personnel including around 40 Westerners and 60 Ukrainians. Two days prior an <a href=" >Iskander-M attack </a>on June 23 caused approximately 50 deaths among Western foreign fighters in the same region. Earlier in the month, a ‘double strike’ was used to <a href=" >take out </a>key rail infrastructure and cause significant casualties. Successes in significantly <a href=" target="_blank">expanding production </a>of the systems since the outbreak of full scale hostilities in February 2022 has facilitated a much higher rate of strikes using the Iskander-M.</p>

Leave a Comment