MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. The Russian Army will fully switch over to Iskander tactical missile systems in 2017, which will allow defending the country’s entire territory from all types of the enemy, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in the lower house of Russia’s parliament on Wednesday.
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"We’ll complete the rearmament and the switchover to Iskander complexes across the country this year. Some of our [radar] stations are on experimental combat duty today but this year all of them will switch over to the mode of combat alert and we’ll fully cover the entire perimeter, all the country’s radar field for missiles of all types, all trajectories, including ballistic paths," the defense minister said.
Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Colonel-General Oleg Salyukov told journalists on Wednesday that over 80% of Russia’s missile formations had switched over from Tochka-U tactical missile systems to the advanced Iskander-M complexes.
"Work continues in the ground forces to rearm military units and formations with the modern types of armament and military hardware. The ground forces’ missile formations are switching over in a planned procedure from the Tochka-U tactical missile complex to the Iskander-M system. As of today, over 80% of missile formations have received the new missile systems," the commander said.
This year, two more missile formations will switch over to Iskander-M systems, he added.
The Iskander-M tactical missile system is designated for making concealed preparations and delivering high-accuracy missile strikes against various objectives in the enemy’s tactical depth within a guaranteed destruction range of 50 to 500 km in various theaters of operation and any conditions, including amid active missile defense and jamming counter-measures.
Iskander tactical ballistic missile systems are capable of hitting both small-size and large-area targets at a distance of up to 500 km to destroy missile and multiple launch rocket systems, long-range artillery guns, aircraft and helicopters at aerodromes, command posts and communications centers.
The Iskander tactical ballistic missile complex includes a launcher, a loader-transporter, a routine maintenance vehicle, a command post vehicle, an information post, an ammunition equipment set and training aids.