Iskander-k - Russian Short Range Cruise Missile

The Iskander-M is a short-range ballistic missile system, used by the Russian Army. Normally it carries cruise missiles with a maximum range of 400 km. However it has a secondary capability to launch R-500 intermediate-range cruise missiles (Western reporting name SSC-7). These carry less payload but has a much longer range. Once cruise missiles are loaded, the system is referred as Iskander-K. The letter “K“ in the designation stands for “Krylataja“, or “cruise“. Development of the land-based R-500 missile commenced in 1996. It is based on a Soviet RK-55 cruise missile, which was about to enter service in 1987, but was cancelled due to an Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. At some point Russians resumed development of this missile. The R-500 was test fired in 2007. This missile was adopted in 2009 and production commenced during the same year. The R-500 missiles with conventional warheads were first deployed in 2011. A first batch of 12 Iskander systems, c