Video: Russian Military Launches Manoeuvrable Iskander Missile

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the defence ministry to analyse the potential threats emanating from recent US ground-based missile testing activities which followed the US move to scrap a key arms treaty, and to formulate a “symmetrical response.” Putin noted that Russia wouldn’t allow itself to be dragged into an arms race.

The Russian defence ministry has released footage of a training test launch of an Iskander missile.

The missile was launched from the Kapustin Yar rocket launch and development facility in Astrakhan, southwestern Russia, with the video showing its mobile launcher stationed in a prepared trench. Aerial footage shows the missile hitting its target. Under the training scenario, the missile was fired at a mock ‘critically important target belonging to the simulated enemy’.

The 9K720 Iskander is a short-range missile system with an operational range of between 50 km and 416 km, well within the  limits set by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibited Russia and the US from developing and deploying ground-based missile systems in the 500-5,500 km range. Washington formally scrapped the treaty on August 2, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to announce last week that Russia would “prepare a symmetrical response.”

Earlier this year, the defence ministry showed off Iskanders modified to field 9M729 missiles, which have an increased range of 480 km, and other improved characteristics.