The first Iskander systems received by the Belarusian Armed Forces were previously operated by the Russian military.
In 2023, the Belarusian Armed Forces received two batches of the Iskander-M missile systems from Russia. The Ministry of Defense of Belarus didn’t specify to which unit the systems were transferred, and that part of the equipment was used before.
Here is what’s known about the transfer of the Iskander missile systems to Belarus.
On February 1, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus announced that the Belarusian military had started operating the Iskander-M missile system. At the same time, they Ministry of Defense didn’t name and kept secret the unit, to which the new equipment was transferred. Previously, we reported that the system entered service with the 465th Missile Brigade of the Belarusian Armed Forces stationed in Asipovichy.
On September 1, information about the transfer of the Iskander systems to the 465th Missile Brigade was confirmed by the Telegram channel of the Asipovichy garrison of the Belarusian Armed Forces. It was noted in the publication dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the brigade’s formation that in winter 2023, the 465th Brigade received the Iskander-M missile system. The system is in service with the brigade’s 587th Separate Missile Divizion.
According to open sources, the 587th Missile Divizion was formed on December 1, 1991, as part of the 465th Missile Brigade. As of 2013, it was reported to have been disbanded.
Most likely, the 587th Separate Missile Divizion was reestablished due to the armament of the 465th Missile Brigade with the Iskander-M missile systems. Until 2022, the 308th, 383rd, and 490th Separate Missile Divizions armed with the Tochka and Tochka-U tactical missile systems were part of the 465th Missile Brigade.
It is important to note that the first Iskanders received by the Belarusian Armed Forces were previously operated by the Russian military. We drew attention to this fact earlier. Later, a former serviceman of the 103rd Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces (military unit 47130), which is stationed in Ulan-Ude, confirmed this information in an interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe. He claimed that part of the Iskander systems in service with the 103rd Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces were handed over to the Belarusian Armed Forces.
It was reported in the media that the 103rd Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces was rearmed with the Iskander-M missile systems in 2015. The brigade had a total of 12 self-propelled launchers of the system in service. Thus, the Belarusian Armed Forces received used equipment that had been operated by the Russian military for at least 7 years.
On August 30, the second batch of the Iskander-M missile systems arrived in Belarus. It was noted that this was not the last delivery of equipment for the Belarusian Armed Forces. The equipment was loaded at Taiga station, which is located near Tomsk, Russia. According to open sources, there are no missile units of the Russian Armed Forces armed with the Iskander systems in the vicinity of the station. The nearest such unit is the 119th Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces (military unit 49547) located in Abakan, 690 kilometers from Taiga station. In this regard, there is no reason to claim that the second batch of the Iskander-M missile systems was previously in service with the Russian Armed Forces.
According to our information, the Belarusian Armed Forces may currently have at least six self-propelled launchers of the Iskander-M missile system.
As noted in open sources, a divizion set of the Iskander-M missile system of the Russian Armed Forces consists of four self-propelled launchers. In turn, missile brigades of the Ground Forces of the Russian Armed Forces have three missile divizions each (twelve self-propelled launchers in total). Thus, the Belarusian Armed Forces can already have the amount of equipment that corresponds to 1.5 missile divizions of the Iskander-M missile system. It is possible that the Belarusian Armed Forces will eventually receive a brigade set of the Iskander-M missile system.
It should be noted that in April 2023, the construction of a new hangar to store and maintain the Iskander-M missile systems was completed on the territory of the 465th Missile Brigade in Asipovichy. Later, a photo of the hangar was published by the Ministry of Defense of Belarus.
