Western military district gets first Iskander tactical missile system
Russia has deployed the first Iskander tactical surface-to-surface ballistic missile system has entered service with the Russian Army’s Western Military District, General-Colonel Arkady Bakhin said on Tuesday.
- We are at practically 98 percent permanent readiness, District Commander Bakhin said according to RIA Novosti. - We are carrying out re-equipment and delivery of new types of weapons. Bakhin did not say how many systems the Western Military District will get.
The Western Military District includes the Northern Fleet and the former Leningrad Military District, which has units close to the border to Norway and Finland.
Iskander is designed for tactical strikes on small, high value land targets. The export variant has a range of 280 km but the variant in Russian service has a range of 500 km.
Russia has previously threatened to deploy Iskander in the Kaliningrad region if NATO deployed missile defense systems in Poland without Russian approval.
