Tuesday, 5 December 2017

Iskanders in Kaliningrad. Permanently from next year

Image: Vitaly V. Kuzmin/wikipedia.com/CC BY-SA 4.0


PUBLISHED: SATURDAY, 02 DECEMBER 2017, 15:20


The 152th missile brigade stationed in the Kaliningrad region is equipped with new sets of Iskander-M missiles; they will enter service in early 2018 - the daily newspaper "Kommersant" reported on Saturday, citing a source similar to the general staff of Russia.
The newspaper notes that Iskanders will be permanently deployed in the Kaliningrad region in the near future. According to the daily, the Russian authorities have announced such a move since 2007, but "up to now, the latest operational-tactical missile sets have been shifted to this region only temporarily."

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu in a comment for "Kommersanta" stressed that "any deployment near the Alliance boundaries of missiles that can carry nuclear warheads will not be conducive to reducing the tension" in relations with Russia. She added that NATO hopes that "Russia will provide more information on this subject in the spirit of transparency".

The Russian daily also quotes a comment obtained in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The active militarization of the Kaliningrad oblast, which has been going on for several years, is causing concern to all countries in the region and beyond its borders," the statement said.

A source similar to the general staff of Russia informed that in the new sets, instead of currently used Toczka-U sets, a missile brigade stationed in Czerniachowsk will be rearmed. Before the Iskanders enter service, the crews of the 152th brigade are to learn their service at the rocket training center in the Astrakhan region. Later, tactical exercises will take place, and then the brigade staff will travel by rail to the place of permanent dislocation.

"According to the military source, the temporary relocation of the latest operational-tactical rocket sets to Czerniachowska has been used earlier as a demonstration response to unfriendly NATO steps, in particular US +. The permanent deployment of Iskanders was postponed for political reasons (...) political and military authorities maintained such measures as + an ace in the sleeve in case of sudden deterioration of relations + "- writes" Kommersant ". He assesses that such deterioration in relations occurred after the Ukrainian crisis.

The source of the daily stated that "in connection with the intensifying situation in the region in 2016, a decision was taken to proceed to erecting portable hangars in Czernienice in order to deploy rockets there permanently." The logger assured that the work was completed and the infrastructure was ready to accept the rocket complex intended for the brigade.

One such complex consists of 12 launchers, 12 transport and loading vehicles, 11 command and staff vehicles as well as auxiliary, technical and social vehicles - reports the daily.

Iskanders (in the NATO code - SS-26 Stone) are ground ballistic missiles on a mobile car platform. In the version for the Russian army they have a range of 380-500 km. The Iskander-K system is also tested, armed with maneuvering missiles with a range of over 500 km. Iskanders can carry nuclear charges.

At the beginning of October last year, the Estonian media reported a transfer of this type of rocket to the Kaliningrad oblast. At the time, the Russian defense ministry said that the deployment of Iskander in the Kaliningrad region was part of routine maneuvers.

Translated by Google - Original post: defence24.pl

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