Russian Iskander-E ballistic missiles delivered to Algeria.

In 2017, without the subject being noticed as it deserved, Russia delivered Iskander-E ballistic missiles to the Algerian army. The Iskander-E is the export version of the Iskander-M, whose range has been reduced from 500 to 280km.

Algeria received Iskander-E tactical missiles (Picture source: Army Recognition)

With this delivery, Algeria became the second foreign country to use this missile system, after Armenia. It had been in question since 2013, four regiments to be equipped. A missile regiment consists of about thirty vehicles: launchers, carriers and missile loaders, plus command and maintenance vehicles.

The Iskander (NATO code: SS-26 Stone) is a Russian short range tactical missile system. The system replaces the Oka SS-23 Spider which had been terminated under the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Development of the system was undertaken by the Kolomna Engineering Design Bureau development during the 1990s under the project name "Tender".

The Iskander SS-26 Stone theatre missile system is designed to destroy enemy weapons, command posts, communications nodes, tactical aircraft parked on airfields, air and missile defense installations and other critical targets in operational depth. All the Iskander vehicles of a battery feature cross-country wheeled chassis making them very mobile. The single-stage missile uses solid-fuel, and benefits from a continuous guidance along the whole trajectory. It features a non-separable 480kg warhead with a self-contained INS coupled with an optical homing head. The warhead can house a cluster-bomb, HE-fragmentation or penetration charge.

The Iskander is noticeable by its high speed: Mach 6. Deputy head of the technical guideline to Iskander-M design, Valery Drobinogi said that, in contrast with its predecessors, this missile is guided at all the trajectory stages. Another know-how is minimal echoing area which, together with counter-missile maneuver capabilities, allows it to escape adversary air defense. The ballistic missile reaches the necessary altitude and steers during descent to avoid becoming a target for the adversary. The missile can sustain 35g-overload.