Anyone who knows anything about missile technology is perfectly aware that Russia is one of the pioneers in this field of military science. Moscow is not only developing and making the world’s best rockets and missiles, but it’s also second-to-none in terms of their usage. Namely, the Kremlin’s doctrine on using long-range strike capabilities is virtually without equal, as it has been leading the world in this regard since the 1950s. After the unfortunate dismantling of the USSR, Russia lost a decade’s worth of research and development in various fields of military high technologies, also losing the precious advantage it had over its adversaries. However, rocket science isn’t one of those, resulting in the development of some of the best and most advanced missile systems even during that period. This included everything from ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) to advanced ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles).

One of the missile systems that was developed during the troubled 1990s is the now legendary “Iskander”. This highly advanced, modular rocket complex (as it’s known in Russian military nomenclature) is arguably the world’s first land-based hypersonic missile platform. Due to its modularity, the 9K720 “Iskander” system has two variants. The first is the “Iskander-M”, armed with the advanced 9M723 quasi-ballistic/hypersonic missiles capable of massive speeds of up to Mach 8.7 and reaching a range of up to 500 km (due to INF Treaty limitations). Most Western sources classify it as an SRBM (short-range ballistic missile), albeit it’s far more advanced than a regular ballistic missile. The second is the “Iskander-K”, modified to launch cruise missiles such as the 9M728 (essentially the R-500, with a range of up to 500 km) and the Novator’s 9M729 (which Western sources claim has a staggering range of up to 5,500 km).

The most commonly........

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