What is the Iskander-M? Russia’s Tactical Ballistic Missile, Explained
The 9K720 Iskander-M — NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone — is the Russian Aerospace Forces’ standard tactical-ballistic missile system, designed by the Kolomna Machine-Building Design Bureau (KBM) and produced by the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant. Replacing the Soviet OTR-23 Oka banned under the 1987 INF Treaty, the Iskander-M entered Russian service in 2006 and has been the most-fired Russian tactical-strike system of the Ukraine war, with more than 1,200 confirmed launches against Ukrainian military and civilian targets between February 2022 and 2025. The platform’s controversy goes beyond combat performance — the related 9M729 cruise variant is the missile that killed the INF Treaty in 2019.
Key facts at a glance
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Short-range tactical ballistic missile system |
| Origin | Russia |
| Manufacturer | Kolomna KBM (design); Votkinsk (production) |
| In service | 2006 — present |
| Missile length | 7.3 m |
| Missile diameter | 920 mm |
| Launch weight | 3,800 kg |
| Warhead | 480 kg unitary (HE, cluster, EMP, nuclear, thermobaric, penetrator) |
| Range (9M723) | 500 km (treaty-stated); 700 km (estimated actual) |
| Range (9M729 cruise) | 2,500 km (estimated) |
| Apogee | ~50 km |
| Speed | Mach 6.5 (terminal) |
| CEP | ~5–7 m |
| Operators | Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Algeria |
| TEL | 9P78-1 8×8 with 2 missiles ready |
The 9M723 ballistic round
The standard Iskander-M missile, designated 9M723, is a solid-fuel quasi-ballistic missile that combines the speed of a ballistic missile with mid-course and terminal maneuvering. Unlike a conventional ballistic missile flying a predictable parabolic arc, the 9M723 maneuvers in flight using small aerodynamic control surfaces and reaction-control thrusters. Its terminal flight envelope is closer to a hypersonic glider than to a 1960s-era SCUD: dive angles between 60 and 80 degrees and lateral maneuver of up to 20 g. This combination is what makes Iskander-M difficult for Patriot, NASAMS or SAMP/T to intercept.
The 9M729 cruise variant — the INF killer
Russia paired the Iskander-M TEL with a separate cruise missile, the 9M729 (NATO: SSC-8 Screwdriver). With an estimated range of 2,500 km, the 9M729 violated the 500-5,500 km range limit imposed by the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. After years of U.S. and NATO complaints, the United States formally suspended its INF Treaty obligations on 2 February 2019 and withdrew on 2 August 2019. The treaty’s collapse opened the door for U.S. ground-launched Tomahawk return via the Typhon system and for further Russian development of intermediate-range strike weapons.
Combat record
- 2008 — Georgia. First combat use. Russian Iskander-Ms fired against Georgian targets during the South Ossetia war.
- 2015 — Syria. A small number of Iskander launches reported from Syrian territory; never officially confirmed by Moscow.
- 2020 — Nagorno-Karabakh war. Armenian Iskander-Ms reportedly fired against Azerbaijani targets near Shusha; the strikes failed to halt the Azerbaijani offensive.
- 2022–present — Ukraine. The largest sustained operational use of any Russian tactical-strike system in modern history. Iskander-M strikes on Vinnytsia (14 July 2022), Kramatorsk (8 April 2022), and Pokrovsk (multiple 2023–2024) caused mass civilian casualties. Ukrainian air-defense forces have intercepted a portion of incoming Iskanders using Patriot PAC-3; published Ukrainian Air Force figures put the intercept rate at roughly 4–6 percent of total launches.
Operators
| Country | Status |
|---|---|
| Russia | ~150 launchers across multiple brigade-level units |
| Belarus | 1 brigade (delivered 2022, allegedly nuclear-capable) |
| Armenia | 4 launchers (2016); employed in Karabakh |
| Algeria | 4 launchers; export Iskander-E variant |
How Iskander compares
| Iskander-M (9M723) | ATACMS Block II | PrSM Inc-1 | Hwasong-11 (DPRK) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class | Tactical ballistic | Tactical ballistic | Tactical ballistic | Tactical ballistic (SRBM) |
| Range | 500–700 km | 300 km | 500 km | 600–700 km |
| Speed | Mach 6.5 | Mach 3 | Mach 5 | Mach 5 |
| Maneuvering | Quasi-ballistic with terminal maneuver | Ballistic with terminal correction | Quasi-ballistic | Quasi-ballistic |
| Combat-proven | Georgia, Karabakh, Ukraine | Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine | No public combat use | None confirmed |
Russian-EW supported strikes
Russian operations integrate Iskander-M strikes with simultaneous electronic-warfare (Murmansk-BN, Krasukha-4) and drone (Geran-2/Shahed-136) saturation. The combination has pushed Ukrainian Patriot batteries to magazine-depth limits, and forced Western suppliers to accelerate PAC-3 MSE production. Russia’s stated goal — destruction of Ukrainian air-defense radars to clear the path for Iskander strikes — has succeeded in several regions but failed in others, most notably the Kyiv air-defense bubble.
Why Iskander-M matters
The Iskander program proved that Russia could field a quasi-ballistic missile capable of maneuvering inside Western air-defense engagement envelopes — for many years a capability the U.S. did not match in service. The Ukraine war converted that theoretical capability into a sustained operational tempo, with Iskander launches now being a fixed feature of weekly Russian strike planning. The combined ballistic + cruise architecture (9M723 + 9M729) ended the INF Treaty, and the lessons being absorbed by U.S. Army PrSM and Lockheed Martin engineers will define U.S. tactical-strike capability for the next decade.
