MOSCOW: From the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the world has been talking about one of Russia's most destructive missiles - the Iskander M short range ballistic missile. Russia has also deployed the Iskander-M missile system near the Ukrainian border. What exactly is Iskander? Why be afraid of Iskander?

The 9K 720 Iskander (NATO reporting name SS-26Stone) is a state-of-the-art missile developed by Russia to attack without warning to enemies. The Arabic word Iskander means protector of mankind.

• The variants of the 9K 720 Iskander are the Iskander-M, Iskander-K, and Iskander-E.
• The most dangerous is the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile. In use since 2006.
• It has a range up to 500 km and is a nuclear-capable missile. Weight 4,615 kg. Carrying capacity 710 - 800 km.
• Hypersonic speed (2100- 2600 m / s (7560- 9360 km / h).
• It will wreak havoc on an area of ​​two football fields (25,000 square meters) on a single battlefield.
• By connecting nuclear warheads, it can produce explosions of 5 to 50 kilotons of TNT.
• Iskander is capable of scanning enemy territory and by using smart bombs it can detect and destroy armored military vehicles. The enemy can also be shaken by electromagnetic pulse warheads. These so-called e-bombs can destroy electronic devices in an area. Although such an attack has not been heard of anywhere in the world, such a possibility cannot be ruled out.
• Even the strongest bunkers on the battlefield will be destroyed.
• It can attack focusing on the image of the target.
• It can attack after collecting data from special drones.
• Russia used the Iskander earlier in the Georgian war and in 2017 in Syria.