The Russian defence ministry has released footage of a training test launch of an Iskander missile, APA reports citing Sputnik.
The missile was launched from the Kapustin Yar rocket launch and development facility in Astrakhan, southwestern Russia, with the video showing its mobile launcher stationed in a prepared trench. Aerial footage shows the missile hitting its target. Under the training scenario, the missile was fired at a mock ‘critically important target belonging to the simulated enemy’.
The 9K720 Iskander is a short-range missile system with an operational range of between 50 km and 416 km, well within the limits set by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibited Russia and the US from developing and deploying ground-based missile systems in the 500-5,500 km range. Washington formally scrapped the treaty on August 2, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to announce last week that Russia would “prepare a symmetrical response.”