-Looks similar to Bastion anti-ship complex. Are those land attack cruise missiles?
Medo your in-built Mark-1 optical system is not perfectly calibrated
, ask to GarryB to correct it to aim in its same direction.
The R-500's launcher module for Iskander-K is ,simply, no more than a
domestic Klub-M launcher ; it is slightly adapted for complete 9P78's compatibility and to allow 9T250 reloader vehicle transporting the cruise missile module to replace ,in the field, the two ballistic missiles of an Iskander TEL with a launcher of six R-500 missiles .
In an article of some years ago ("Iskander the Great " by Mikhail Barabanov) are present several informations on the subject in question .Those are some extracts of interest :
"Further development of the warfighting capabilities of the Iskander missile system should include the integration of the high-precision R-500 (3M14) subsonic cruise missile, developed by the Novator Design Bureau in Yekaterinburg. The R-500 missile is actually a conventional version of the Soviet 3M10 (RK-55) long-range cruise missile, which was the analogue of the U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile. The 3M10, is installed as the Granat (SS-N-21) system with a range of up to 2,600 km on the Russian Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarines and was previously deployed as the Relief (SSC-4) ground-based long-range mobile cruise missile system, eliminated by the 1987 INF Treaty."
Medo image that you are perfectly capable to identify what domestic missile (accidentally just the land attack version of this missile
) developed by Novator Design Bureau respond to the denomination of 3M14.....
Moreover you can also easily see what domestic missile has been revealed the last year in public accessible media by russian authorities, to have a range in the 2000-2500 km area....have you detected the missile in question ?
"The Iskander missile system with the R-500 cruise missile is designated Iskander-K. Six R-500 cruise missiles with vertical launch canisters can be installed in place of the two ballistic missiles on a standard 9P78 TEL vehicle."
....well , now control how many missiles contain the land-based launcher module of those cruise missiles...
The problem ,at now, turn exclusively around compliance or not compliance with the INF Treaty and, obviously, the possibility to use ,on the international diplomatic chessboard, the "freezing" of Iskander-M complex's potentially devastating capabilities ,(including the operational range of its ballistic missile component, at now within 500 Km )within the limits imposed by INF Treaty as an heavy exchange coin in foreign politics with NATO. Those are the words of Commander of the Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Ground Forces Colonel General Vladimir Zaritsky on the subject from the same article:
«at present the Iskander-M missile system fully complies with the conditions of the INF Treaty, but if a political decision were made to withdraw from the Treaty, we would increase the fighting capabilities of the system, including its range.»
As anyone know ,in fact,
ground based Theatre and Intermediate ballistic/cruise missile launchers are the most strictly controlled and limited in Arms Control Agreement just for theirs capability to
deliver dozen of times more destructive power than an equal weapon system air or naval based .
Ground based launchers,in fact, have virtually no limits to theirs ammunition's stock imposed, as in ships or aircraft, by the limits dictated by the carrying platforms and can therefore continue, reloading, to attack over and over and over with the only limit being the entire national reserve of similar weapons and show immeasurably greater survivability - each ground based launchers can count, naturally, on the defence structures of the entire national IAD architecture, moreover can disperse widely from a brigade level to single unity, employ without problem fixed and mobile decoys and camonets, render itself invulnerable or undetectable for long periods using underground sites or tunnels ,mask or disappear in any existing civilian structure (from the hay loft of an insulated factory to a civilian building's park );
ship or submarine based launchers ,instead, cannot count on an entire national IAD structure for defend themselves ,neither can employ any type of decoy ,neither render itself momentarily invulnerable/undetectable ,neither disperse when necessary each of its missile launchers neither mask themselves with civilian assets ,
aircraft based cruise missiles (ballistic missiles aren't present as air delivered weapons) are the most frail against an advanced opponent ,because over the shortcomings of sea based launchers have as theirs prerequisite assets fixed and very frail structures full of soft skin vehicles -airfields- ,very easy to obliterate by part of an advanced opponent employing nothing more than a concentrated saturating attack .
Anyone can realize as ,for Russia, the potential and almost instantaneous possibility to "convert" the ,by far, most advanced and unstoppable tactical ballistic missile at world at today in its -not-INF-Treaty-compliant version capable to employing also Klub missile launchers represent a very, very good "exchange good" for eventual diplomatic agreements with NATO ,in perspective, on the question of ABM shield in East Europe
Just to give an idea of what we talk here is sufficient to say that a pair of brigades of those not-INF-compliant Iskander-M will be capable to release 48 virtually unstoppable missiles with HE unitary, fuel-air explosive, high explosive earth penetrator, area denial submunitions, antiradar blast/fragmentation or .....nuclear warheads against well defended primary enemy targets, likely well over 1000 Km far ,disperse, reload with R-500 launchers and deliver 144 Klub cruise missiles versus secondary targets at 2000-2500 km range, disperse reload with ballistic missiles and fire other 48 ballistic missiles at different primary targets, all of that in less than 45 minutes !!!!
Any of those missiles could be delivered 24/24 seven days at week, literally from any position : from a "shoot and scout" open field position or just outside a redeploying tunnel, to an abandoned hangar or railcar deposit outside a city or a totally hidden silo-like shooting positions near a mountain, etc..etc...under the full cover of national IAD structure and Air Forces
Best regards.
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