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Russian Iskander-M tactical missiles to be live-fired in September

Iskander tactical ballistic missile systems are capable of hitting both small-size and large-area targets at a distance of up to 500 km

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. A missile formation of Russia’s Eastern Military District has received a brigade set of Iskander-M tactical missile systems at the Kapustin Yar testing range in the southern Astrakhan Region and will hold live-firing exercises in September, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"The crews have started practising the operation of a modern missile complex. The practical training will end in September with tactical drills and a live-firing exercise, after which the personnel of the missile formation and their organic combat hardware will make a march by railway to the place of their permanent location," the Defense Ministry’s press office reported.

This is the fifth missile formation in the Russian Army and the second in the Eastern Military District, which has fully switched to the operation of a modern missile system lately, the Defense Ministry said.

The missile brigade’s personnel have received several dozen launchers, loader-transporters and command-and-staff vehicles, life support engineering equipment, routine maintenance vehicles and an information post, the Defense Ministry said.

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.

Russia’s Eastern Military District is designed to protect the country’s east and comprises military units based in the Trans-Baikal Territory in East Siberia and the Russian Far East.

The Eastern Military District’s command is headquartered in Khabarovsk.

The Eastern Military District’s troops and forces are stationed in the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Trans-Baikal, Kamchatka, Primorye and Khabarovsk Territories, the Amur, Magadan and Sakhalin Regions, the Jewish Autonomous Region and the Chukotka Autonomous Area.

The district also comprises the Pacific Fleet and the 3rd Command of the Air Force and Air Defense.