9K720 Iskander - Deployment and Combat History

Deployment and Combat History

According to the Moscow Centre for Strategy and Technology Analysis, the Iskander-M system was combat-tested in the 2008 South Ossetia war with Georgia and it proved highly effective in destroying military targets and infrastructure. Quoting unconfirmed reports, Moscow Defense Brief says that it was an Iskander missile that inflicted a high precision strike on the Georgian Separate Tank Battalion base in Gori, destroying 28 tanks. Russian officials have admitted to using the Iskander missile against Georgia and official reports testify to the high effectiveness of the Iskander missiles, as one of the most devastating and accurate weapons in the Russian arsenal. The Dutch government's investigation claims that a single, 5 mm fragment from an anti-personnel sub-munition, that was propelled by an Iskander missile, killed Dutch journalist Stan Storimans in Gori, which was home to various military targets and had been almost completely evacuated before the bombardment.

In November 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated in his first state of the nation speech that Russia would deploy Iskander missiles to Russia's western district of Kaliningrad "to neutralize, if necessary, a NATO missile defense system." However, on September 17, 2009, US president Barack Obama announced the cancellation of the US missile defence project in Poland and the Czech Republic. Following the announcement, on September 26, Medvedev stated in a press conference that he would in turn cancel the plans to deploy Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad. According to the Stratfor.com e-mails leaked by Wikileaks, there are a number of Iskander brigades operational. The leaked Stratfor.com e-mail was dated 13 December 2009:

On September 29, 2009, the Russian military announced plans to set up an extensive network of Iskander missiles throughout the country as part of the broader military reforms underway. According to General Vladimir Boldyrev, Iskander systems would be stationed in every defence district in Russia, with exception to Kaliningrad. On November 23, 2011, President Dmitri Medvedev again said that Russia may deploy Iskander tactical missiles in the Kaliningrad region as part of Russia’s reaction to the United States’ missile shield plans.

In response to NATO Patriot missiles being stationed in Turkey, Russia deployed its first batch of Iskander missiles to Syria when its naval logistics vessels docked in Tartus during the Syrian civil war.